Hormone replacement therapy applied directly to the joint fluid could help regenerate damaged cartilage tissue in people suffering from advanced osteoarthritis, according to German researchers. The study sought to examine the regenerative potential of a cell type, progenitor chondrogenic cells or CCP, which is in the later stages of osteoarthritis.The researchers speculated that these cells may be influenced by estrogen, which has been shown to affect bone metabolism, and testosterone. Tissue samples from 372 men and women suffering from arthritis and had undergone a total knee replacement. Most were in the early seventies. In the joint fluid of the participants, they found 17 beta-estradiol, a form of estrogen, which increases state deposition of calcium in both sexes.
