Fibroblasts, or connective tissue cells obtained from the skin of adult mice, can be reprogrammed to turn into chondrocytes, or cells that make up cartilage, according to scientists from Osaka in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Prof. Noriyuki Tsumaki and colleagues at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine reprogrammed adult mouse skin fibroblasts into cartilage cells. Scientists first turned on the activity of genes responsible for the state of full undifferentiation in fibroblasts, i.e. reset them, and then turned on genes that cause cell differentiation into chondrocytes. When these cells were implanted into mice, they gave rise to new cartilage tissue.
Vitreous cartilage consists mainly of chondrocytes – cells that produce large amounts of intercellular substance and form the skeleton of the embryo and, in adults, the ends of the bones, where it provides good shock absorption and joint lubrication.
Damage to the hyaline cartilage often causes the formation of adhesive tissue, the so-called fibrous cartilage and sometimes even new bones, which causes growth disorders and inflammation of the bones and joints. Cartilage regeneration would become possible if scientists could develop a method of growing new chondrocytes. The authors of the study hope that the method described by them will allow in the future to obtain chondrocytes from the skin of patients for the regeneration of damaged cartilage. (PAP)