80
this feature represents a signifi cant challenge for biomedical engineers and clinician
in the case of the cartilage defects treatment (Ahmed and Hincke 2010 ).
Furthermore, articular cartilage is localized in the form of cover layer on the
heads of joints. Because of this location, it tends to be under high-impact as well as
constant mechanical stresses. Due to these both factors, it would be very diffi cult for
this avascular tissue defects to heal through so called self-tissue regeneration.
According to the modern strategy, “a thorough understanding of cartilage physiology and evaluation of the critical players in cartilage injury, disease, and repair, are
of principal importance in deciding on the design parameters (i.e. biomaterial selection, cell type, signaling molecules) of a bioengineered tissue substitute” (Viala and
Andreopoulos 2009 ).
Nowadays, several modern technologies, such as growth-factor delivery (Lee
and Shin 2007 ; Chung and Burdick 2008 ), cartilage tissue engineering (Rotter et al.
2007 ; Greene and Watson 2010 ; Ehrlich et al. 2010 ), and stem cell therapy, have
been proposed and partially applied for regeneration and repair of articular cartilage
defects. For these cases, autologous cartilage transplantation is one of the most
promising treatment options (see for review Fan et al. 2012 ).
Different chemical compounds (structural proteins and polysaccharides), which
are originally located within marine fi sh as well as marine mammals cartilages, have
been used in tissue engineering as components of artifi cially developed hydrogels
(Guo et al. 2012 ) and scaffolds (Brittberg 2010 ).
Hyaluronic acid (or Hyaluronan) is one of the acidic mucopolysaccharides
naturally existing in large quantities in shark skin and whale cartilage. Hyaluronan
is a biopolymer of a linear repeating disaccharide unit consisting of
β-(1 → 4)-linked D-glucopyranuronic acid and β-(1 → 3)-linked 2-acetamido-2deoxy-D- glucopyranose. The polysaccharide is present in the synovial fl uid of
joints, in the extracellular matrices, and scaffolding that comprises cartilage.
Hyaluronan is unique amongst other glycosaminoglycans because of “its mechanism of synthesis, its size, and its physico-chemical properties,” (Murano et al.
2011 ). The network- forming, viscoelastic and charge properties of hyaluronan
are crucial to most biochemical features of living tissues. Also its location on the
cell surface as well as within the pericellular space, is very important. It interacts
with other macromolecules such as proteins; and participates in regulating cell
behavior during several restorative, pathological and morphogenic processes in
the organism. The knowledge of hyaluronan in diseases such as various forms of
cancers, arthritis and osteoporosis has led to new impetus in research and development in the preparation of biomaterials for surgical implants and drug conjugates for targeted delivery (Toole 2004 ).
The next important linear anionic polysaccharide is the chondroitin sulfate (CS) that
is also a constituent of proteoglycans. The biopolymer represents a repeating disaccharide unit composed of glucuronic acid (GlcA) and N-acetylated galactosamine
(GalNAc). Both are arranged in the [(1 → 4)-β-GlcA-(1 → 3)-β-GalNAc-] sequence.
This regular structure is decorated during the biosynthesis by the insertion of sulfate
groups at different positions of sugar backbone. As a key component of the connective
tissues, CS is well known precautionary drug for joint diseases. Recently, the isolation
2 Cartilage of Marine Vertebrates
this feature represents a signifi cant challenge for biomedical engineers and clinician
in the case of the cartilage defects treatment (Ahmed and Hincke 2010 ).
Furthermore, articular cartilage is localized in the form of cover layer on the
heads of joints. Because of this location, it tends to be under high-impact as well as
constant mechanical stresses. Due to these both factors, it would be very diffi cult for
this avascular tissue defects to heal through so called self-tissue regeneration.
According to the modern strategy, “a thorough understanding of cartilage physiology and evaluation of the critical players in cartilage injury, disease, and repair, are
of principal importance in deciding on the design parameters (i.e. biomaterial selection, cell type, signaling molecules) of a bioengineered tissue substitute” (Viala and
Andreopoulos 2009 ).
Nowadays, several modern technologies, such as growth-factor delivery (Lee
and Shin 2007 ; Chung and Burdick 2008 ), cartilage tissue engineering (Rotter et al.
2007 ; Greene and Watson 2010 ; Ehrlich et al. 2010 ), and stem cell therapy, have
been proposed and partially applied for regeneration and repair of articular cartilage
defects. For these cases, autologous cartilage transplantation is one of the most
promising treatment options (see for review Fan et al. 2012 ).
Different chemical compounds (structural proteins and polysaccharides), which
are originally located within marine fi sh as well as marine mammals cartilages, have
been used in tissue engineering as components of artifi cially developed hydrogels
(Guo et al. 2012 ) and scaffolds (Brittberg 2010 ).
Hyaluronic acid (or Hyaluronan) is one of the acidic mucopolysaccharides
naturally existing in large quantities in shark skin and whale cartilage. Hyaluronan
is a biopolymer of a linear repeating disaccharide unit consisting of
β-(1 → 4)-linked D-glucopyranuronic acid and β-(1 → 3)-linked 2-acetamido-2deoxy-D- glucopyranose. The polysaccharide is present in the synovial fl uid of
joints, in the extracellular matrices, and scaffolding that comprises cartilage.
Hyaluronan is unique amongst other glycosaminoglycans because of “its mechanism of synthesis, its size, and its physico-chemical properties,” (Murano et al.
2011 ). The network- forming, viscoelastic and charge properties of hyaluronan
are crucial to most biochemical features of living tissues. Also its location on the
cell surface as well as within the pericellular space, is very important. It interacts
with other macromolecules such as proteins; and participates in regulating cell
behavior during several restorative, pathological and morphogenic processes in
the organism. The knowledge of hyaluronan in diseases such as various forms of
cancers, arthritis and osteoporosis has led to new impetus in research and development in the preparation of biomaterials for surgical implants and drug conjugates for targeted delivery (Toole 2004 ).
The next important linear anionic polysaccharide is the chondroitin sulfate (CS) that
is also a constituent of proteoglycans. The biopolymer represents a repeating disaccharide unit composed of glucuronic acid (GlcA) and N-acetylated galactosamine
(GalNAc). Both are arranged in the [(1 → 4)-β-GlcA-(1 → 3)-β-GalNAc-] sequence.
This regular structure is decorated during the biosynthesis by the insertion of sulfate
groups at different positions of sugar backbone. As a key component of the connective
tissues, CS is well known precautionary drug for joint diseases. Recently, the isolation
2 Cartilage of Marine Vertebrates