Rabbits grow bionic knees..

Researchers used a synthetic scaffold seeded with ligament cells to regenerate damaged knee tissue (Image: iStockphoto)








Human Knee

Well , rabbit is cute isn't it ?

But from past one year there's researchers from US studies uses bioengineering to help repair torn knee ligaments where it is a common type of sports injury. In preliminary studies, the investigators engineered new tissue in the damaged ligaments of rabbits in just 12 weeks.The hope is that if the approach works in humans, it could accelerate recovery times. The researchers used a synthetic scaffold seeded with ligament cells to regenerate the new tissue in the damaged anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of rabbits. The bunnies were able to begin bearing weight on their knees 24 hours after surgery, and by the end of the 12-week experiment, the animals had fresh collagen and blood vessels growing in the damaged area.

"It is my hope that these studies will lead to a revolutionary new treatment strategy for patients suffering from ACL tears," says Cato Laurencin, a professor of orthopaedic surgery and biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville who led the study.The ACL is the stabilising ligament that connects the thighbone to the leg bone. It unravels like a plait when ruptured, making healing difficult.

In humans, the standard treatment for this is reconstructive surgery. Surgeons remove healthy tissue from tendons around the knee and graft it onto the damaged ligament to regenerate it.But it can take five to six months for a full recovery, and surgeons would prefer not to harvest healthy tissue if possible. Researchers have tried to craft ligament-like scaffolds to help the healing process before, but success has been limited.This is the first time that researchers have combined synthetic materials with ACL cells and been able to substantially engineer new ligament tissue.

In addition to the 'biomimetic' scaffold, which combines synthetic materials with animal cells, the researchers also tested a purely synthetic scaffold. But the healing process with this device was slower. Further tests will be required to determine the value of this approach. However, the results of this preliminary study indicate it could be a promising ligament replacement therapy, which could potentially speed up the recovery process, Laurencin says.





From this article we can know that the researchers is using bionic technique to repair the torn knee ligament. Although it hasn't been successful yet, the researchers is trying to look for relationships between problems and solution that occur in rabbits which is much similiar with our torn knee ligament.