The role of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells in sports injuries

The therapeutic use of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) has been applied to many different tissue types that are vulnerable to sports injuries. Avenues of treatment include direct injection of BM-MSCs into the defect, however although minimally invasive, research has highlighted flaws which have been improved upon with the use of scaffolds. BM-MSCs have been applied via many different scaffold types, for example PLGA, collagen gel and coral each with advantages and disadvantages of which can be improved through further research. As a cell source for tissue engineering, BM-MSCs are ideal due to the minimal invasion of aspiration, high in vitro proliferation rate and the ability to maintain their differentiating capacity. The vast majority of these studies are at the small animal stage and therefore further work using larger animal models, and ideally humans is required.