Potential of human amniotic membrane application for articular cartilage regeneration: a review

Regeneration of articular cartilage disorders is one of the critical challenges in musculoskeletal medicine. Tissue engineering could represent a therapeutic option to support cartilage regeneration. Natural and biological materials are appropriate for fabricating tissue engineering scaffolds because of their similarity to natural tissues. The properties of amniotic membranes, including low immunogenicity, anti-inflammatory role, cell loading capability, expression of various growth factors, and chondroprotective effect, make them an interesting option for cartilage regeneration. This review studied the structure of articular cartilage and potential applications of the human amniotic membrane (AM) for articular cartilage regeneration. In addition, processing and decellularization methods of AM and the most common forms of amniotic membrane used in cartilage regeneration, including sheet, injectable form, and 3D forms, were studied. This review highlights the benefits of amniotic membrane applications in cartilage regeneration and clinical trial studies.