Osteoarthritis （OA） is a chronic degenerative disease characterized by articular cartilage degeneration，

synovitis and subchondral bone sclerosis. Traditional clinical interventions are difficult to achieve substantial regeneration of damaged cartilage. In recent years， tissue engineering technology has provided a new strategy for cartilage defect repair by combining seed cells， bionic scaffolds and bioactive molecules. As a natural polyphenolic compound， curcumin has excellent pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory， anti-oxidation and anti-chondrocyte apoptosis. However， its poor water solubility and low bioavailability limit its clinical application. Loading curcumin into hydrogels with good biocompatibility and combining with polycaprolactone （PCL） scaffolds with excellent mechanical properties can construct a ‘soft-hard’ composite system with both mechanical support and biological activity. In this paper， the construction basis of curcumin-loaded hydrogel/PCL composite scaffold was systematically discussed， and its molecular mechanisms such as regulating local immune microenvironment， promoting chondrogenic differentiation of stem cells， maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis and inhibiting ferroptosis of chondrocytes were deeply analyzed. The application efficiency and future clinical transformation prospects of curcumin-loaded hydrogel/PCL composite scaffold in cartilage defect model were comprehensively prospected， in order to provide theoretical basis for targeted therapy and cartilage tissue engineering of OA.

Osteoarthritis, Curcumin, Hydrogel, Polycaprolactone scaffold, Cartilage repair