Cartilage Tissue Engineering: the effect of different biomaterials, cell types and culture methods

textabstractChapter 1 outlines the normal structure and composition of articular cartilage and the inefficient spontaneous healing response after focal damage. Current surgical treatment options are briefly discussed and tissue engineering techniques for the repair of articular cartilage defects are addressed in more detail. The aims of the work presented in this thesis are outlined in Chapter 2: namely to investigate the infl uence of different biomaterials, cell types and culture methods on the tissue engineering process, as well as characteristics of the tissue engineered cartilage