REVIEW CRITERIAA literature search in PubMed was performed using “cell biology”, “aging” or “senescence” in combination with “chondrocytes” and “osteoarthritis”. Only articles written in English were considered, and full papers reviewed (mostly original articles with a focus on the more recent literature). Owing to the abundance of literature on these topics, a selection was made on the basis of the relevance to the content discussed herein. In addition to the papers found in the literature search, papers were added that provide evidence noting the different features of osteoarthritic chondrocytes as described in the text.