Editorial: Bioengineering and translational research for bone and joint diseases

Abstract

Editorial on the Research Topic Bio engineering and translational research for b one and joint diseasesMusculoskeletal disorders, commonly caused by sporting injuries, aging, accidents, and pathological factors, are one of the nonnegligible burdens that render severe pain and disability (Shang et al., 2022). As a long-term and costing disease, osteoarthritis occurs at a six folds higher rate, secondary to joint and bone lesions such as ligament rupture, cartilage defects, meniscus tear, and bone injuries (Snoeker et al., 2020). Different tissues show a great variation in the ability of post-injury self-repair. Due to increased angiogenesis and the capability to differentiate osteoblasts (Glowacki, 1998), bone is recognized as relatively prone to heal when lesions are small, whereas large instances remain challenging clinically and preclinically (Schemitsch, 2017). Unlike the adequation of blood supply in bone tissue, articular cartilage is an avascular, alymphatic, aneural, and hypocellular structure (Pathria et al., 2016). Chondrocytes, the predominant and welldifferentiated type of cells in cartilage, cluster in the lacuna rich in water, proteoglycans, and collagens. Under natural situations, articular cartilage microstructure degenerates in pace with systemic aging, such as a loss in water volume and thinning of the calcified cartilage layer (Hoemann et al., 2012). Due to its biological properties, once injured, cartilage can hardly heal itself, rather injury progresses to the deeper layers and is finally in need of arthroplasty (Baumann et al., 2019). Current strategies, including conservative surgeries like arthroscopic debridement and chondroplasty (Chilelli et al., 2017), bone marrow stimulating therapy like microfracture (Allahabadi et al., 2021), and autologous transfer therapy such as osteochondral autograft transfer (McCormick et al., 2014) cated on the tibia plateau, are indispensable structures that facilitate load transmission, shock absorption, joint lubrication, and proprioception (Fox et al., 2015). Meniscus tears, commonly due to trauma or degenerative diseases, badly influence the mobility of knees, especially in athletes (Fox et al., 2015). With adequate vascularity only in the outer red-red zone, tears occurring in the inner white-white zone cannot self-repair (Makris et al., 2011). Tendon and ligament injuries are also health problems that cause pain and instability of