Table 2 Summary on properties and applications of nanocomposites for cartilage tissue repair

PCEC/alginate

Injectable hybrid scaffold using biodegradable porous microsphere as the cross-linker carrier

Repair full-thickness cartilage defects in a rabbit model

This injectable scaffold may be useful to meet different shape defects and regrow cartilage layers by a minimally invasive approach

[286]

CMs/CMC-OCS

Injectable CMC-OCS hydrogel containing CMs developed via the Schiff’ base cross-linking reaction

Encapsulate bovine articular chondrocytes in vitro

CMs-embedded CMC-OCS hydrogels have potential as injectable drug and cell delivery systems in cartilage tissue engineering

[287]

TGM/PAMAM/Fe₃O₄

Injectable nanocomposite hydrogels containing pNiPAAm-based TGM, PAMAM-based macromers, and Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles

Encapsulate WRN cells

The integration of the nanoparticles made the hydrogel responsive to a magnetic field, indicating the feasibility of utilizing an external device to deliver spatiotemporally-controlled mechanical stimuli to encapsulated cells

[281]

gelatin/PLA

Porous 3D scaffold containing electrospun gelatin/PLA nanofibers

Repair the cartilage defect in rabbits

The composite scaffold possessed porous and nanofibrous structure, which could mimic the structure of native ECM, improving the growth of chondrocytes in vitro

[291]

gelatin/PLLA

Embedding gelatin onto the surface of nano-fibrous PLLA scaffolds developed by TIPS using an electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly technique

Culture MC3T3-E1 osteoprogenitor cells

Developing a novel procedure for surface modification of nano-fibrous PLLA scaffolds that were advantageous for cell adhesion and proliferation

[344]

PLCL/nHA

Composite scaffolds fabricated by TIPS followed by a freeze-drying technique

Study the in-vitro degradation of nanocomposites for use as scaffolds in bone engineering

The introduction of nHA could modulate the degradation rate of PLCL scaffolds

[293]

NaOH-treated PLGA

Underlying material properties obtained via chemical etching techniques using NaOH include a more hydrophilic surface, increased porosity, and a greater degree of nano-roughness

Culture human articular chondrocytes in vitro

Demonstrating the potential use of NaOH-treated PLGA for enhanced articular cartilage repair

[295]

PCL-b-PLLA

Nanofibrous scaffold created via combining TIPS with salt-leaching methods

Culture chondrocytes in vitro

Compared with solid-walled scaffolds, nano-fibrous scaffolds have larger specific surface area and protein adsorption, on which the chondrocytes are cultured in a spherical shape with enhanced viability and proliferation, making them potentially excellent scaffold materials for cartilage tissue engineering

[296]

PLLA/SF

Nanofibrous scaffold fabricated by electrospinning

Culture rabbit articular chondrocytes in vitro

The PLLA/ SF scaffold is more conducive to in vitro formation of cartilage-like new tissues than the unmodified PLLA scaffold

[297]

PLLA/gelatin/GAG

GAG-containing composite nanofibers consist of co-electrospun PLLA/gelatin

Culture BMSCs and chondrocytes

The PLLA/gelatin/GAG blended nanofibers displayed significant increases in hydrophilicity, cell proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation

[298]

gelatin-PCL/DCECM

Composite scaffolds containing electrospun nanofibers and DCECM

Repair cartilage defects in New Zealand white rabbits

This composite scaffold has stronger structural stability and higher chondrocyte proliferation rate, which is a promising tissue engineering scaffold for cartilage regeneration and cartilage defect repair

[299]

PAA-Alg-Si

Composite hydrogels, combined with nano-silica

Culture ADSCs

Hydrogels incorporated with silica show a significant increase in compressive strength and fracture toughness, while having considerable hydrophilicity, which is in accordance with the nature of soft tissues such as cartilage

[300]

chitosan/alginate

Composite scaffold consist of alginate solution (containing BMP-7) and chitosan nanoparticles (containing TGF-β₂)

Culture MSCs

The dual growth factors (BMP-7/TGF-β₂)-loaded nanoparticle/hydrogel system showed a controlled release of both growth factors, providing desirable growth factor delivery kinetics for cartilage regeneration, as well as the chondrogenesis of MSCs

[304]

GO/PDLLA

Photopolymerizable PDLLA hybrid hydrogel incorporated with GO

Culture hBMSCs

With the presence of GO, the hydrogel scaffold supported in vitro TGF-β₃ retention for up to 4 weeks and enhanced scaffold compressive stiffness, on which hBMSCs were encapsulated with higher chondrogenic gene expression and cartilage ECM production

[305]