Defects of load-bearing connective tissues such as articular cartilage and intervertebral disc (IVD) can result from trauma, degenerative, endocrine, or age-related disease. Current surgical and pharmacological options for the treatment of arthritic rheumatic conditions in the joints and spine are ineffective. Cell-based surgical therapies such as autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) have been in clinical use for cartilage repair for over a decade but this approach has shown mixed results. This review focuses on the potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as an alternative to cells derived from patient tissues in autologous transplantation and tissue engineering. Here we discuss the prospects of using MSCs in regenerative medicine and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of these cells in articular cartilage and IVD tissue engineering. We discuss the conceptual and practical difficulties associated with differentiating and pre-conditioning MSCs for subsequent survival in a physiologically harsh extracellular matrix, an environment that will be highly hypoxic, acidic, and nutrient deprived. Implanted MSCs will be exposed to traumatic physical loads and high levels of locally produced inflammatory mediators and catabolic cytokines. We also explore the potential of culture models of MSCs, fully differentiated cells and co-cultures as "proof of principle" ethically acceptable "3Rs" models for engineering articular cartilage and IVD in vitro for the purpose of replacing the use of animals in arthritis research.