Differences in repair responses between immature and mature cartilage

Cartilage has a poor reparative capacity although it is unclear as to what extent this may be dependent on age or maturation. In the current study, th e cellular responses of chondrocytes to experimental wounding in vitro usin g embryonic, immature, and mature cartilage have been compared. In all case s, the response was consistent (a combination of cell death that included a poptosis and proliferation). The speed of response varied in terms of cell death with embryonic cartilage showing the most rapid response and mature c artilage showing the slowest response. Intrinsic repair as assessed by the ability to heal the lesion was not detected in any of the culture systems u sed. It was concluded that the poor repair potential of cartilage is not ma turation dependent in the systems studied.