Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage that gradually deteriorates as common aging-associated disease in humans and animals. There is no cure, but the treatments are available to manage to relieve pain through medication such as steroids. Growing interest has been focused on the role of cell-based therapies using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). In addition, mesenchymal stem cells can be isolated from almost adult tissues and known for their potential of becoming cartilage. Clinical and experimental studies indicate that the development of treatment using stem cells is double-edged sword involving a possibility such as tumorigenesis. This study focused on the electrical features during articular cartilage development and hypothesized that external electric fields promote pre-chondrogenic condensation without concern relating to genetic modification or exogenous factors. Here, it has been reported that exogenous direct electric fields drive pre-chondrogenic condensation which is the stage where cartilage formation begins by condensation of stem cells and cartilage cells in the microenvironment of the joint. Time-dependent observations also support the contribution of electrical stimulation (ES) to induce gradual aggregation of MSCs into highly compact structures within 3 days. Collectively, our findings provide the potential of electrical stimulation-driven chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells in the absence of exogenous factors for repair of cartilage defects.

Abstract
서 론
재료 및 방법
    중간엽 줄기세포
    Micromass의 제작
    실험관내 전기자극법
결 과
    전기 자극에 의한 micromass의 제작
고 찰
REFERENCES

• Chiyoung Chang(Bio Biz Division, Hanyang Digitech)
• Donghee Kim(Bio Biz Division, Hanyang Digitech)
• Juhyun Park(Bio Biz Division, Hanyang Digitech)
• Jongmin Noh(Bio Biz Division, Hanyang Digitech) Corresponding Author