Cow Knee Joint Cells Aid in Growing Cartilage

First there was Dolly, the sheep. Now researchers at Umea University in Sweden have successfully used cartilage cells from cow knee joints to grow cartilage in the laboratory. They are not there yet, but using primary bovine chondrocytes, (cartilage cells from cows) they have improved methods to grow cartilage tissue in a laboratory environment. The tissue they produced was similar to tissue normally present in human joints.

Articular cartilage is found on all the joint surfaces in the body. Unfortunately, it has a low self-repair capacity leading to a condition known as osteoarthritis. In 2012, in Sweden, 26.6% of all people age 45 years or older were diagnosed with osteoarthritis.

While the condition causes pain and immobility for the individual, it also burdens society with accumulated medical costs. “There is currently no good cure for osteoarthritis, ” says Janne Ylärinne, doctoral student at the Department of Integrative Medical Biology, “So we need a more permanent solution.”

Using cartilage cells from cows, the researchers improved methods to grow cartilage tissue in a laboratory environment. The tissue they produced was similar to tissue normally present in the human joints, they reported. They anticipate that, in the future, these results may help the development of neocartilage production for actual cartilage repair.