Conclusions: We have demonstrated that BPGs can infiltrate into human articular cartilage with varying degrees of OA, distribute throughout the ECM, and localize around the chondrocytes. Recently, we have also shown BPG diffusion following the same results in normal bovine knee cartilage ex vivo and normal rabbit knee cartilage in vivo6. Biomimetic proteoglycans have the potential to replace lost aggrecan in the cartilage ECM in a minimally invasive manner through intra-articular injections. Infiltration through the cartilage surface may serve as a method to introduce BPGs into arthritic cartilage to molecularly engineer the tissue and restore hydration and mechanical properties.
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