中文摘要：

背景：软骨损伤目前仍然是临床上难以完全治愈的一大难题。近来，滑膜间充质干细胞的发现为该病变的治疗带来了新的希望。 目的：综合近几年文献探讨滑膜间充质干细胞的特性、培养条件、临床前及临床研究等关于软骨修复的研究进展。 方法：应用计算机检索1993年1月至2013年5月PubMed数据库和SpringerLink数据库中的相关文章，检索词为＂synovial mesenchymal stem cells, cartilage repair＂，并参阅其他相关的著作及高影响因子的相关文献. 结果与结论：最终纳入符合标准的文献37篇。滑膜间充质干细胞较之其他间充质干细胞具有更强的增殖、集落形成和软骨化能力。骨关节炎、类风湿关节炎等疾病可影响其细胞特性。已有大量文献集中于其体外细胞培养及动物体内细胞移植方面的研究。然而，该治疗方法的研究尚处于初步阶段。关于其细胞鉴别特性、理想培养条件及高质量临床研究方面的报道仍相当缺乏。总而言之，尽管研究有待深化，滑膜间充质干细胞仍不失为一种未来修复软骨损伤领域有前景的细胞资源。

英文摘要：

BACKGROUND： Cartilage injury is still one of the clinical problems difficult to be treated completely so far. Recently, the discovery of synovial mesenchymal stem cells （SMSCs） has brought about the new hope to cartilage repair. OBJECTIVE： To explore the process concerning SMSCs-based therapy for cartilage repair in the past few years, such as the characteristics of SMSCs, culture conditions, preclinical and clinical studies, and then to summarize the literatures published in recent years. METHODS： A computed-based online search of PubMed and SpringerLink databases was performed using the key words of ＂synovial mesenchymal stem cells, cartilage repair＂ for literatures published from January 1993 to May 2013. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION： Finally, 37 articles were included. SMSCs have a greater proliferative capability, colony-forming potential and chondrogenic potential than other mesenchymal stem cells. The diseases such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis can influence the characteristics of SMSCs. Numerous articles have aimed at the studies of cell culture in vitro and cell transplantation in vivo. However, the process of SMSCs therapy is mostly at its preliminary stage. Reports on its unique characteristics, optimal culture conditions and the high-quality clinical studies are still largely lacking. In a word, though further studies are needed, SMSCs appear to be a promising cell source for cartilage repair in the future.