Table 4.
MSC source | In vivo assessment of focal AC defect treatment | Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|---|---|
Bone marrow | Clinical and pre-clinical [7,38,45,47,48,51,53,59,60,65,66,68,69,71–73,76–78,80–85,88–91,97] | Most rigorous investigation and strongest supporting evidence | Propensity to form osseous tissue (could be beneficial for osseous regeneration in osteochondral lesions) |
Ease of collection by needle | |||
Long-term safety reported | |||
Peripheral blood | Clinical and pre-clinical [29,61,98] | Ease of collection by needle | Paucity of literature comparing this source to others |
Synovial tissue | Pre-clinical [50,52–54,56,62,64,67,70] | Greatest chondrogenic capacity noted based on in vitro study | Clinical assessment is lacking |
Periosteum | Pre-clinical [7,56] | Equivalent chondrogenic capacity to bone marrow | Propensity to form osseous tissue |
Clinical assessment is lacking | |||
Adipose tissue | Pre-clinical [46,49,56] | Abundance of tissue | Reduced chondrogenic capacity |
Widespread anatomic availability | Clinical assessment is lacking |
AC, articular cartilage; MSC, mesenchymal stem cell.