RESUMEN
Tendons and ligaments, crucial components of the musculoskeletal system, connect muscles to bones. In the realm of sports, tendons and ligaments are vulnerable tissues with injuries such as Achilles tendon rupture and anterior cruciate ligament tears directly impacting an athlete's career. Furthermore, repetitive trauma and tissue degeneration can lead to conditions like secondary osteoarthritis, ultimately affecting the overall quality of life. Recent research highlights the pivotal role of mechanical stress in maintaining homeostasis within tendons and ligaments. This review delves into the latest insights on the structure of tendons and ligaments and the plasticity of tendon tissue in response to mechanical loads.
RESUMEN
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are small (~21 nucleotides) non-coding RNAs, are important players in endochondral ossification, articular cartilage homeostasis, and arthritis pathogenesis. Comprehensive and genetic analyses of cartilage-specific or cartilage-related miRNAs have provided new information on cartilage development, homeostasis, and related diseases. State-of-the-art combinatorial approaches, including transcription-activator like effector nuclease (TALEN)/clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technique for targeting miRNAs and high-throughput sequencing of RNA isolated by cross-linking immunoprecipitation for identifying target messenger RNAs, should be used to determine complex miRNA networks and miRNA-dependent cartilage regulation. Use of advanced drug delivery systems involving cartilage-specific miRNAs will accelerate the application of these new findings in arthritis therapy.