Mar. 22, 2004 - 21:59 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

To Tell

Something that holds great hope for most people is in the making I think.

So, where to start ? Research I think, the ultimate beginning of most anything, often which produces good results.

Cartilage, the shock absorber between bones. Something that wears out with time and abuse. Glucosamine has seemed to help to an extent.

There is a professor of chemical engineering, Kristi Anseth of Colorado University-Boulder who has has pioneered in the development of something that will replace cartilage that is there no more. Hopes are that in a few years it will be in use on humans. Knees will benefit greatly as well as hips and other joints. In the lab they have grown cartilage in mice, rats and one goat. Anseth reports, "We were able to repair the defect in the goat."

I have read the article three times and still cannot give a plain explanation in a short format. Briefly it is, "Regrowing Cartilage. The process involves using ultraviolet light to make repeating chains of complex molecules called polymers into degradable, three dimensional scaffolds, along which cartilaginous cells multiply to form new tissue. The scaffolds, which can be injected, for instance, into the knee as a fluid, become gel-like when exposed to light, then dissolve after the tissue regenerates."

(I think the explanation of all this will eventually be presented as a paper when the work reaches a proven stage in development. Which of course few of us will be able to understand.)

Professor Anseth tries to simplify, "We make the scaffolds that recreate tisses and accelerate the healing process," she said. The key is that we put in a molecule that absorbs the light -- that starts the reaction that forms the biological material. The scaffold is injected as liquid, but, when treated by light, becomes a somewhat solid gel -- Like Jell-o or a contact lens," Anseth said.

Anseth says also, "When you use light to make the scaffold it can be done in the presence of cells and tissues," she explained. Meaning that cells -- cartilage-forming cells, for example -- can be placed in the same solution that forms the liquid precursor to the scaffold. The entire solution can be injected by the surgeon into the knee's trouble spot. The cells imbed on the scaffold, adhering to each other and, eventually, to the bone or remaining original cartilage."

As near as I can understand, along with the scaffold material are also cells that will attach and grow to form cartilage.

The foregoing is information from an article by Bill Scanlon of the Rocky Mountain News of March 22. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Like most improvements there will still be involved many hours and days, perhaps years of work before totally perfected and released to doctors to use. For instance how to shape the gel in the spot where it is needed. The ultraviolet light is supplied by an arthroscope, but the gel has to be in the right shape. But there is hope for those who have bad knees and other joints that rub together when cartilage is lacking. But perhaps those of you who are much younger will be treated with this modern development and not be crippled by the lack of cartilage in crucial places. They are also trying to use the same type of technique to rebuild heart valves, a process which uses stem-cells from bone marrow.

Like many other things, I have great hopes, but its still too early To Tell . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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