BioportTriComboUK patient and professional information

The science, simply

The extracellular matrix: what cartilage and joint fluid are made of.

Bioport TriCombo is a glucosamine, chondroitin and hyaluronic acid injection. Those three names are not a random combination: together with collagen, they are what the matrix of your cartilage and joint fluid is built from. This page explains that matrix and where TriCombo fits.

What is in TriComboWhere to have it
Watercolour illustration of hyaluronate and chondroitin sulfate chains forming a loose network

What it is

Cartilage is mostly matrix.

Cartilage is unusual among the tissues of the body: it has very few cells. Most of it is matrix, the material those cells build and live in. That material is called the extracellular matrix, often shortened to ECM. In articular cartilage it is made of water, collagen fibres and large sugar-based molecules called proteoglycans, whose glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains are threaded onto long chains of hyaluronic acid.1

The fluid inside the joint is part of the same system. The manufacturer describes hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine as components of the synovial biomatrix, the matrix of both the cartilage and the fluid that lubricates it.2

In a knee with osteoarthritis the surface wears, the matrix thins and the fluid becomes less able to lubricate the joint. Supporting the matrix is therefore one of the ways a clinician can think about a worn knee.

Watercolour illustration of the cartilage matrix with proteoglycans threaded on a hyaluronan chain between collagen fibres
Proteoglycans carrying chondroitin sulfate, threaded on hyaluronic acid between collagen fibres

Four components

Collagen, glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid.

Four names come up again and again when the matrix is described. Three of them are the ingredients of TriCombo, in the order glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid.

Collagen

Fine collagen fibres form the framework of cartilage, giving it shape and tensile strength. The other components sit within this mesh.1

In TriCombo: Not an ingredient of TriCombo. Collagen is built and maintained by the cartilage cells themselves.

Glucosamine

An amino sugar the cells use as a building block. The manufacturer describes it as essential for the formation of hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate and keratan sulfate, the sugar chains of the matrix.2

In TriCombo: The first ingredient, supplied as N-acetylglucosamine (NAG).

Chondroitin sulfate

A glycosaminoglycan (GAG) that hangs in dense brushes from the proteoglycans of cartilage. Its negative charge draws in water, which is what lets cartilage cushion load.1,2

In TriCombo: The second ingredient, physically associated with the hyaluronate in the syringe.

Hyaluronic acid

The long chain that proteoglycans attach to within cartilage, and the main lubricating component of the joint fluid that bathes the surface.1,2

In TriCombo: The third ingredient, as 3 MDa sodium hyaluronate.

Where TriCombo fits

Three matrix components, one injection.

Glucosamine and chondroitin are familiar as tablets. TriCombo places them, with hyaluronic acid, directly into the knee joint from one pre-filled syringe.2 The what it is page explains the formulation, and the professional evidence page sets out the published study.

What is in TriComboEvidence(written for professionals)

Studies mentioned on this page

  1. 1.Sophia Fox AJ, Bedi A, Rodeo SA. The basic science of articular cartilage: structure, composition, and function. Sports Health, 1(6):461-468, 2009. View DOI
  2. 2.Nikovari Bio Tech Oy. Bioport TriCombo product brochure. Manufacturer document, 8 pages, 2025. View source

Talk to a clinic about TriCombo.

Only a clinician who has examined your knee can say whether TriCombo is an option for you. The clinic currently offering it is listed on the where to have it page.

Where to have itFAQ