Tendon injuries are a common cause of morbidity and a significant health burden on society. Tendons are structural tissues\r\nconnecting muscle to bone and are prone to tearing and tendinopathy, an overuse or degenerative condition that is characterized\r\nby failed healing and cellular depletion. Current treatments, for tendon tear are conservative, surgical repair or surgical scaffold\r\nreconstruction. Tendinopathy is treated by exercises, injection therapies, shock wave treatments or surgical tendon debridement.\r\nHowever, tendons usually heal with fibrosis and scar tissue, which has suboptimal tensile strength and is prone to reinjury, resulting\r\nin lifestyle changes with activity restriction. Preclinical studies show that cell therapies have the potential to regenerate rather\r\nthan repair tendon tissue, a process termed tenogenesis. A number of different cell lines, with varying degrees of differentiation,\r\nhave being evaluated including stem cells, tendon derived cells and dermal fibroblasts. Even though cellular therapies offer some\r\npotential in treating tendon disorders, there have been few published clinical trials to determine the ideal cell source, the number\r\nof cells to administer, or the optimal bioscaffold for clinical use.
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