Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Bone morphogenetic protein is a common scaffold material in tissue engineering, which plays an irreplaceable role in the repairing of articular cartilage injury.
OBJECTIVE: To introduce the repairing ways of articular cartilage injury and the classification of bone morphogenetic protein; emphasize the application of bone morphogenetic protein in the repairing of articular cartilage injury.
METHODS: Using “bone morphogenetic protein, sports injuries, articular and cartilage, repairing” as keywords in both Chinese and English to retrieve Pubmed Database and VIP Database for relevant documents published from January 1998 to April 2010. Papers addressing bone morphogenetic protein in the repair of articular cartilage injury were selected, and the repetitive studies were excluded.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A total of 74 pieces of document have been searched and 20 of them were introduced in the literature review, with the others deleted. At present, it has been proved that bone morphogenetic protein contributes greatly to the activation of bone and leads mesenchymal cell to differentiate into bone and cartilage irreversibly. However, the members of bone morphogenetic protein family differ in capacity of leading the formation of bone and the most capable ones are bone morphogenetic protein-2 and bone morphogenetic protein-7. Meanwhile it is shown in some relevant study that, bone morphogenetic protein has auxo-action in the repairing of articular cartilage injury. There is still a long way to go to apply bone morphogenetic protein to clinical treatment because of the indefinite mechanism of action, the option of composite material, the indefinite security and effectiveness of applying bone morphogenetic protein to human bodies.