The potential of intra-articular injection of chondrogenic-induced bone marrow stem cells to retard the progression of osteoarthritis in a sheep model

► Surgically induced osteoarthritis was performed prior to injection of stem cells. ► The sheep received either BMSC, chondrogenically induced BMSC or basal media. ► Induced BMSC showed better retardation of osteoarthritis compared to BMSC. ► Induced BMSC demonstrated regeneration comparable to normal knee joint cartilage.