FEDER - UNICAEN - OA-ACTIVE - SPRINGBOARD
Kohesio
UNIVERSITE DE CAEN NORMANDIE
Since its first description in 1938 by Callender and Kelser, equine osteoarthritis has been compared to its counterpart in humans. Since then, the horse has been considered the most relevant animal model for the study of this degenerative pathology on the basis of the structural/biochemical properties of the cartilage, its locomotor capacities, but also on that of the evolution of this syndrome associated with a progressive destruction of the cartilage, bone modifications and surrounding tissues constituting the joint. Thus, in humans as in horses, osteoarthritis develops following abnormal stresses on normal cartilage (traumatic or fatigue lesions) or following normal stresses on abnormal cartilage (age in particular) and is secondarily associated with a strong inflammatory component. These constraints occur throughout the life of both humans and horses, whether they are athletes or not, and involve all of the tissues constituting the musculoskeletal system. Among these tissues, cartilage, which is not vascularized, has a very low repair capacity. Consequently, traumatic and degenerative lesions of the articular cartilage inevitably evolve into osteoarthritis linked to uncontrolled molecular mechanisms at the origin of metabolic and biomechanical disturbances of the joint. Currently, no treatment can prevent this progressive course of the disease. The available treatments are only palliative (reduction of pain/inflammation and discomfort and at best slowing down of the degenerative process) and lead in the final stages of the pathology in humans to the installation of prostheses. Osteoarthritis, due to the synergy of biological/biochemical and biomechanical alterations, remains a difficult disease to treat. No non-surgical treatment allowing cartilage regeneration currently exists. It is in this context that the interest in the development of cartilage regenerative medicine strategies based on the use of functionalized hydrogels for biological and mechanical actions combined or not ultimately with the secretome of mesenchymal stem cells for their anti-inflammatory and pro-regenerative actions emerges.
Smarter Europe / Research and innovation / Research and innovation activities in public research centres and centres of competence including networking