Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2016, Article ID 1879837, 17 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1879837 Review Article Applications of Chondrocyte-Based Cartilage Engineering: An Overview Abdul-Rehman Phull,1 Seong-Hui Eo,1 Qamar Abbas,1 Madiha Ahmed,2 and Song Ja Kim1 1 Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Kongju National University, Gongjudaehakro 56, Gongju 32588, Republic of Korea 2Department of Pharmacy, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan Correspondence should be addressed to Song Ja Kim;
[email protected] Received 14 May 2016; Revised 24 June 2016; Accepted 26 June 2016 Academic Editor: Magali Cucchiarini Copyright © 2016 Abdul-Rehman Phull et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Chondrocytes are the exclusive cells residing in cartilage and maintain the functionality of cartilage tissue. Series of biocomponents such as different growth factors, cytokines, and transcriptional factors regulate the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) differentiation to chondrocytes. The number of chondrocytes and dedifferentiation are the key limitations in subsequent clinical application of the chondrocytes. Different culture methods are being developed to overcome such issues. Using tissue engineering and cell based approaches, chondrocytes offer prominent therapeutic option specifically in orthopedics for cartilage repair and to treat ailments such as tracheal defects, facial reconstruction, and urinary incontinence. Matrix-assisted autologous chondrocyte transplantation/implantation is an improved version of traditional autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) method. An increasing number of studies show the clinical significance of this technique for the chondral lesions treatment.