Syringe of Stem Cells for InjectionÂ
This rendering depicts a syringe filled with stem cells (purple) suspended within a saline solution. Stem cell injects have been a recently popular non-FDA approved minimally-invasive therapeutic that is used to "alleviate" osteoarthritis and joint inflammation. Human trials and the FDA have found no benefit to this procedure as cell retention is low. This procedure motivates the need for biomaterials as a carrier for these cells to improve their local delivery into the joint.