Summary

Regenerative medicine for the repair of connective tissues is a fast moving field which generates a lot of interest. Unfortunately the biomaterials and biomechanics for soft tissue repair has been under-represented in the past. Particularly the natural association between cartilage, tendons and ligaments is often not made.Regenerative medicine and biomaterials for the repair of connective tissues addresses this gap in the market by bringing together the natural association of cartilage, tendons and ligaments to provide a review of the different structures, biomechanics and, more importantly, provide a clear discussion of practical techniques and biomaterials which may be used to repair the connective tissues.Part one discusses cartilage repair and regeneration with chapters on such topics as structure, biomechanics and repair of cartilage. Chapters in Part two focus on the repair of tendons on ligaments with particular techniques including cell-based therapies for the repair and regeneration of tendons and ligaments and scaffolds for tendon and ligament tissue engineering.