Therapeutic devices configured to be worn by an individual to apply compression, vibration, and/or heat to cartilage tissue at one or more joints of the individual. The individual dons the therapeutic device so that therapeutic units of the therapeutic device are located in proximity to the cartilage tissue, and electrical power is supplied to a control system and to the therapeutic units to operate and control each of the therapeutic units individually and simultaneously to selectively apply the compression, vibration, and/or heat to the cartilage tissue.

Methods and compositions for the biological repair of cartilage using a hybrid construct combining both an inert structure and living core are described. The inert structure is intended to act not only as a delivery system to feed and grow a living core component, but also as an inducer of cell differentiation. The inert structure comprises concentric internal and external and inflatable/expandable balloon-like bio-polymers. The living core comprises the cell-matrix construct comprised of HDFs, for example, seeded in a scaffold. The method comprises surgically removing a damaged cartilage from a patient and inserting the hybrid construct into the cavity generated after the foregoing surgical intervention. The balloons of the inert structure are successively inflated within the target area, such as a joint, for example. Also disclosed herein are methods for growing and differentiating human fibroblasts into chondrocyte-like cells via mechanical strain.

The present invention provides relatively non-invasive treatments generally involving injection of a treatment composition to a subject's target site which exhibits a defined degradation state (e.g. typically “partially-degraded target sites”) and/or symptoms corresponding with such a degradation state. Such target sites, which are suitably specific regions of a human or animal body (e.g. an intervertebral disc or a component part thereof, such a nucleus pulposus), typically degrade to the defined degradation state as a consequence of biological degeneration at the target site, in particular cellular and/or extracellular degradation, and administration thereto of treatment compositions of the invention can facilitate physical and/or biochemical restoration of such target sites.

An implant for the replacement and regeneration of biological tissue in the shape of a plug, comprising a base section (2) configured for anchoring in bone tissue, a middle section (3) configured for replacing cartilage tissue, and a top section (4) configured for growing cartilage tissue onto and into, wherein the middle and top sections comprise the same thermoplastic elastomeric material, which is porous in the top section, and non-porous in the middle section, and wherein the base section comprises a substantially non-porous polyaryletherketone polymer with a porosity of less than 20%, relative to the total volume of the polyaryletherketone polymer.

The invention relates to a method and a device for producing an implant, wherein a natural bone microstructure of a natural bone region is detected (S1), an implant region in the natural bone region is marked (S2), the detected bone microstructure in the marked implant region is analysed to determine reproduction parameters (S3), and on the basis of the determined reproduction parameters, an artificial microstructure for producing the implant is created (S4).

A graft or construct including an isolated cartilage chondrocytes from young donors (<20 years), seeded on a three-dimensional membrane composed of one of the main chondrogenesis-promoting substances (hyaluronic acid), in high densities (1×106) with autologous serum and sealed with a fibrin adhesive for the treatment of a cartilage lesion, with tissue formation that has greater durability, at a lower cost and with fewer risks than the treatments currently available for the management of such lesions. Likewise, a procedure for the treatment of articular cartilage lesions is provided, through the implantation of allogeneic chondrocyte grafts that present the capacity to generate or repair satisfactorily the cartilage of the lesion.

Medical devices having engineered mechanically functional cartilage from adult human mesenchymal stem cells and method for making same.

A method for producing a collagen meniscus implant by obtaining a freshly excised non-human meniscus, rinsing it in an aqueous solution, drying the rinsed meniscus, shaping it to approximate in dimension an average-sized human meniscus, extracting non-collagenous material from the shaped meniscus, and sterilizing it, yielding a collagen meniscus implant containing at least 90% by weight of type I collagen, less than 0.5% by weight of glycosaminoglycan, and less than 600 ppm DNA. Also disclosed is a collagen meniscus implant prepared by the above method. Further provided is a biocompatible and bioresorbable porous implant for meniscus repair. The implant includes a three-dimensional network of collagen fibers oriented in a direction approximating the collagen fiber orientation of a human meniscus. The implant has a size and a contour substantially equivalent to a human meniscus, and has a chemical composition similar to the above-described collagen meniscus implant.

A shaped cartilage matrix isolated from a human or animal where the cartilage has been crafted to facilitate disinfection, cleaning, devitalization, recellularization, and/or integration after implantation. Also, a process for repairing a cartilage defect with the cartilage matrix. The matrix is in the form of an osteochondral plug including a cartilage cap ad subchondral bone, wherein one or more gaps, slats, bores, or channels extend through the tidemark at the interface between the cartilage cap and the subchondral bone.

A shaped cartilage matrix isolated from a human or animal where the cartilage has been crafted to facilitate disinfection, cleaning, devitalization, recellularization, and/or integration after implantation. Also, a process for repairing a cartilage defect with the cartilage matrix. The matrix is in the form of an osteochondral plug including a cartilage cap ad subchondral bone, wherein one or more gaps, slats, bores, or channels extend through the tidemark at the interface between the cartilage cap and the subchondral bone.