Recent Biomimetic Approaches for Articular Cartilage Tissue Engineering and Their Clinical Applications: Narrative Review of the Literature

Table 1

Representative of advantages and disadvantages of articular cartilage tissue engineering approaches.

Articular cartilage tissue engineering approaches	Advantages	Disadvantages
Scaffold-dependent approaches	(i) Provide 3D-microenvironment which is mimicking native articular cartilage tissue structure	(i) The long-term safety of the scaffold
	(ii) Promote cell growth and differentiation and deliver bioactive molecules that promote chondrogenesis	(i) Undefined degradation rate
	(iii) Mimic the articular cartilage’s mechanical properties	(iii) Potential toxic degradation of byproducts
		(iv) Potential of immune resistance
Injectable-dependent approaches	(i) Cells can be delivered to the defect site only	(i) Undefined degradation rate
	(ii) Minimally invasive or noninvasive surgical procedures for articular cartilage regeneration	(ii) Potential toxic degradation of byproducts
		(iii) Potential of immune resistance
		(iv) No immediate structural and biomechanical alteration
Cell sheet approaches	(i) Extensive cellular resources and a rapid proliferative rate and capacity for chondrogenic differentiation	(i) No immediate structural and lack of the articular cartilage’s mechanical properties
	(ii) No immune resistance	(ii) Potential disease transmission
	(iii) Promotes proliferation and accelerates chondrogenesis	(iii) Limitations in clinical trials experiments