©Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash
An apple a day doesn't just keep the doctor away. In France, it might even help doctors reconstruct cartilage. Indeed, that's the concrete result of a study, published in the Journal of Biological Engineering, which shows that it's possible to obtain human cartilage from decellularized apples.
The research was conducted by a team from the Université de Caen Normandie and represents an important step in tissue engineering, the branch of regenerative medicine that aims to grow biological tissue in the laboratory to repair damaged body parts.
How to make human cartilage from apples
At the heart of the discovery is a process called decellularization. This involves stripping the apple of its cells, while leaving its natural three-dimensional structure intact: a kind of microscopic scaffold composed mainly of cellulose.
This porous structure is ideal for absorbing human cells. The researchers 'seeded' stem cells and cartilage precursor cells on it and grew them under controlled conditions in the laboratory. The cells adhered to the plant matrix, began to multiply and, even more interestingly, produced cartilage-like extracellular matrix - a sign that they were actually forming cartilage tissue.
Histological and molecular analyses confirmed differentiation into chondrocytes, the typical cartilage cells. In some cases, particularly in cells derived from the perichondrium of the auricle, cartilage formation even occurred without specific hypoxic conditions. This technical detail reinforces the application potential of the technique in question. Thus, the apple does not become cartilage, but acts as a natural 'bridge' that allows human cells to organize and transform into cartilage.
It's important to emphasize that biomaterials of plant origin have enormous advantages. They are abundant, inexpensive, readily available and already proven compatible with mammalian cells in previous studies. They do not require human donors, do not pose ethical and logistical problems involved in classical transplants and can be adapted to the shape of the tissue to be reconstructed.
Cartilage, as is well known, is a tissue that is difficult to regenerate. Joint injuries, arthritis, osteoarthritis, nasal or ear scrapes: once damaged, the body has great difficulty repairing it spontaneously. And finding healthy tissue for transplants is anything but easy, both because of the shortage of donors and compatibility problems. In that context, using a simple apple as a biological scaffold is not only inventive, but also a small green revolution in regenerative medicine.
Possible applications: joints, nose, ear
The prospects are very concrete. Researchers point to possible applications in repairing joint cartilage damaged by trauma or degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis. But it doesn't stop there.
The technique could also be used to reconstruct nasal cartilage after oncological procedures or trauma, or for ear cartilage, where its three-dimensional shape is crucial. Meanwhile, the team is also looking at other plants and plant structures to determine which natural architectures are best suited for the reconstruction of specific human tissues. Among the candidates is celery, whose shape could open up new possibilities.
(Journal of Biological Engineering via GreenMe.it 2026/Managing Editor: Julie Morgan - The Press Junction/Picture: ©Jonas Leupe via Unsplash)