TABLE 1.
Cell resources in osteochondral tissue engineering.
| Cell types | Cell sources | Relevant characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Tissue-specific cells | Chondrocytes | More functional cartilaginous tissue formation |
| Limited quantity in the native tissue | ||
| High integration into the surrounding matrix | ||
| Dedifferentiation capacity during culture and expansion | ||
| Osteoblasts | The expression of Runx2 peaks in immature osteoblasts and reduces at maturity Komori, (2019) | |
| Enhanced apoptosis by p53 and accelerated differentiation through Akt-FoxOs pathway Komori, (2016) | ||
| Osteoblast-derived VEGF promotes bone repair and homeostasis Hu and Olsen, (2016) | ||
| Progenitor cells | BM-MSCs | Most widely used, but highly invasive |
| The frequency, proliferation efficiency and differentiation potential decline with age | ||
| Immunomodulatory functions, facilitating better tissue survival in vivo Sun et al. (2018); Ding et al. (2016) | ||
| UC-MSCs | Inexhaustible supply, noninvasive procurement and high purity | |
| Faster proliferation rates, greater expansion capability and broad multipotency Baksh et al. (2007); Chen et al. (2009) | ||
| More primitive—expressing both MSC and ESC markers Barrett et al. (2019) | ||
| No or only mild immune response based on recent evidence Prasanna et al. (2010); Liu et al. (2012) | ||
| AT-MSCs | Increased osteogenic differentiation by allylamine modification Murata et al. (2020); Chaves et al. (2016) | |
| The deposition of chemical groups (e.g., NH2 and COOH) affects chondrogenic and osteogenic lineages Griffin et al. (2017) | ||
| SDSCs | Better proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation performance than BM-MSCs and AT-MSCs Sasaki et al. (2018); Zheng et al. (2015) | |
| Weaker osteogenic capability than BM-MSCs | ||
| Elevated ECM deposition and inhibited hypertrophy of chondrocytes Kim et al. (2018) | ||
| AFSCs | Expressing Runx2, osterix, osteopontin et al. and producing extracellular calcium stores during differentiation Maraldi et al. (2011) | |
| Typical differentiation process into cells of mesodermal origin regulated by growth factors (e.g., TGF-β, IGF-1 and EGF) Bajek et al. (2014) | ||
| USCs | A recently reported candidate for seed cells in tissue engineering Gao et al. (2016) | |
| Osteogenic and chondrogenic potentials worth exploring Qin et al. (2014) | ||
| Simple isolation and culture, non-invasive and easy obtainment, low-cost and high efficiency Zhang et al. (2008); Guan et al. (2014) |
Abbreviations: BM-MSCs, Bone marrow-derived MSCs; UC-MSCs, Umbilical cord MSCs; AT-MSCs, Adipose tissue-derived MSCs; SDSCs, Synovium-derived MSCs; AFSCs, Amniotic fluid-derived stem cells; USCs, Urine-derived stem cells.