Fabrication of cellulosic composite scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering

Nanocomposites for Musculoskeletal Ilssue Regeneration. http //dx.dol.or l0.1016/B97 l 7 242 452 9.00009 l Copyri t 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved 

AC is an avascular tissue that is mainly composed of ECM and water. Approximately 70-80% of the tissue is composed of water (constituting a gel) which helps to transfer nutrients and distribute loads. The solid contents of the cartilage are embedded inside the ECM in addition to residence of a single population of chondrocytes. The ECM and chondrocytes correspond to 20-30% of the AC, whereas the ECM consists 

The ECM molecules discussed above are synthesized by the chondrocyte cells which correspond to 1-5% by volume with a wide distribution throughout the AC (Bhosale and Richardson, 2008). The articular chondrocytes from different regions have specific morphologies and functions. In addition, the cells have different shapes and diameters according to their specific zonal functions (Aydelotte and Kuettner, 1988). 

As mentioned earlier, AC is a highly ordered structure which is divided into different zones. These zones differ in the composition and orientation of the collagen fibers 

Reprinted with permission from Morgan Claypool Publishers (Athanasiou, K., Darhng, E., Hu, J., 2009. Articular Cartilage Tissue Engineering 1 (1), 1-182). 

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Fabrication of cellulosic composite scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering... 

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