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As anyone with chronic knee pain will attest, being mobile in order to perform even the simplest tasks can be excruciating and frustrating. But thanks to research conducted by scientists at Boston University, people with knee pain and arthritis may soon get pain relief. Or even stave off total knee replacement surgery.
The researchers developed a synthetic polymer that could act as a lubricant for joint cartilage. The polymer — poly(7-oxanorbornene-2-carboxylate) — has a high molecular weight and does not break down like other currently used lubricants, reportsChemistry World.
Mark Grinstaff, professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, and his team got inspiration for the lubricant in the way that many other ideas come about: seeing how a breakthrough in one area can be used in another area. Chemistry World explains the foundation of the Eureka moment:
The polymer has carboxylate side groups, and so is chemically similar to hyaluronic acid, which is a natural carbohydrate-based polymer that makes up part of the synovial fluid that helps lubricate articular joints like knees. A few years ago, Grinstaff explains, the group worked out some tweaks to the ring-opening metathesis polymerisation (ROMP) reaction that they were using to make their polymer. This allowed them to make much longer chains.
“Instead of having molecular weights of 1–200,000, we could get up to 2.5 million,” he says. “When the polymers get that large, the rheological properties change — we noticed when we dissolved them in water they were slippery to the touch.”
The slipperiness gave the researchers the idea that the new polymer could be a good lubricant for people with joint pain or osteoarthritis. The lubricant would need to be injected into the joint.
These types of lubricants have been on the market for about 10 years. They have mixed reviews as to their effectiveness — some people say that they work and others say that they don’t. But they usually require repeated periodic injections.
Grinstaff believes that his lubricant will stay in the joint longer — and therefore provide benefits longer — because of the high molecular weight. Its composition does not get broken down by enzymes present in the synovial fluid.
The synthetic polymer has received cautious praise from other researchers. “It’s an interesting approach,” says Philippa Cann from Imperial College London. However, she believes that the polymer needs to be tested under more physiologically relevant conditions.
For example, Grinstaff’s team has performed some experiments using the polymer on human cartilage taken from cadavers. But Cann points out that there’s a difference between dead tissue and where synovial fluid is present. “It’s important to understand what kind of interactions the polymer might have with what’s already in the joint,” she says.
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