microRNA and Cartilage regeneration

According to Duke University medical researchers, natural cartilage regeneration occurs in humans depending on the distance of the joint from the body core.  “Cartilage in ankles is young, it’s middle-aged in the knee and old in the hips. This correlation between the age of human cartilage and its location in the body aligns with how limb repair occurs in certain animals, which more readily regenerate at the furthest tips, including the ends of legs or tails. The finding also helps explain why injuries to people’s knees and, especially, hips take a long time to recover and often develop into arthritis, while ankle injuries heal quicker and less often become severely arthritic.  The researchers further learned that molecules called microRNA regulate this process.”  MORE

Image Credit:  Alisa Weigandt for Duke Health