Over 10 million people in Japan suffer from knee joint disorders (Figure 1). Around 7 million require treatment for walking difficulties due to aging or sports injuries (Figure 2).
Today, in the current treatment procedure for knee joint disorders, surgery is required when the main treatment (joint injection or muscle strengthening exercise) seems less effective. This surgery is for removing part of the articular cartilage or the meniscus, sometimes replacing those tissues with artificial materials, which would bring a heavy burden to the patients(Figure 3).
To lessen patients’ burden, we are developing a new material which supports rebuilding the articular cartilage or the meniscus. This material is a hydrogel which hardens after getting inside the body and has high interaction with cells, and it supports reconstructing articular cartilage or the meniscus. This hydrogel is settled into the patients’ knee by injection or endoscopic surgery, after placing cells three dimensionally inside the gel.