Abstract

Cartilaginous tissue which somehow gets injured heals slowly or incompletely as it has very limited capacity by its own to heal. Immense researches on cartilage regeneration have been performed by many researchers in the past on humans as well as on animals. Attempts have been made to replace the damaged cartilage with new functional tissues but almost all such efforts done in the past have remain in vain due to the lack of understanding and knowhow of reparative physiology of the cartilage at molecular level. Lately, different modules including scaffolding and cell therapy approaches have been tried as a novel strategy in the treatment of cartilage damage or diseases. Many progenitor cells have been tried in the past such as mesenchymal, embryonic, adult, bone marrow stromal and adipose derived stem cells in the repair of many tissues including the articular cartilages besides their efficacies and limitations.  This review focuses on the physiological insight of repair biology of cartilage in racing and sporting animals in the light of newer modules of treatment available. 

Keywords : Cartilaginous tissue; Differentiation; Trans-differentiation, Mesenchymal stem cells, Embryonic stem cells, Bone marrow stroma stem cells, Adult stem cells; Adipose tissue derived stem cells; Scaffolds