Injectable amnion hydrogel-mediated delivery of adipose-derived stem cells for osteoarthritis treatment

Significance Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic disease affecting millions of people worldwide with no curative solution. In the present study, we developed a minimally invasive injectable system using amnion membrane (AM) from the human placenta as a carrier for fat tissue-derived stem cells (adipose-derived stem cells [ADSCs]) to treat OA. Both AM and ADSCs are rich sources of bioactive molecules that can target the sites of inflammation and reduce the inflammation-driven articular cartilage damage. Our study demonstrated the disease-modifying and regenerative potential of AM hydrogel, a comparable regenerative and disease-modifying effect of AM hydrogel and ADSCs, and the synergistic effect of AM with ADSCs in regenerating cartilage and attenuating OA.