Figure 4.

Summary of EV-biomaterials for cartilage tissue engineering or treatment of OA. Biomaterials for OA include implanted biomaterials and intra-articularly injected biomaterials into joints induced with OA (e.g., DMM or osteochondral defects). Biomaterials are generated from natural polymers/materials such as decellularized cartilage tissue, hyaluronic acid, gelatin, collagen, chitosan, nanoclay, or even synthetic polymers, including PEG. Studies feature various strategies to modulate biomaterial tunability and EV retention and releases, such as chemical crosslinking, chemical modification of natural polymers to enable photocrosslinking or thermoreversibility, and even synthetic thermoresponsive triblock copolymer that forms micelles at room temperature.