Nanotubes may help regenerate cartilage

PROVIDENCE, R.I., June 5 (UPI) -- U.S. nanotechnologists say they've published the first study that shows how carbon nanotubes, along with electrical pulses, can help regenerate cartilage.

Brown University Associate Professor and nanotechnology engineer Thomas Webster said scientists have long wrestled with how to aid people who suffer cartilage damage and loss.

Now Webster says he has regenerated cartilage naturally by creating a synthetic surface that attracts cartilage-forming cells.

"Cartilage regeneration is a big problem," said Webster. "You don't feel pain until significant cartilage damage has occurred and it's bone rubbing on bone."

Webster's work involves carbon nanotubes, which are among the stiffest and strongest fibers known and are great conductors of electrons.

Webster and his team -- including Brown researcher Dongwoo Khang and Purdue University's Grace Park -- found nanotubes work well for stimulating cartilage-forming cells, known as chondrocytes.

A nanotube's surface is rough, yet it closely resembles the contours of natural tissue, so cartilage cells see it as a natural environment to colonize.

The team plans to test the cartilage regeneration method procedure with animals, and, if that is successful, to conduct the research on humans.

The study is detailed in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part A.