Assembly of cells and vesicles for organ engineering

Abstract

The development of materials and technologies for the assembly of cells and/or vesicles is a key for the next generation of tissue engineering. Since the introduction of the tissue engineering concept in 1993, various types of scaffolds have been developed for the regeneration of connective tissues in vitro and in vivo. Cartilage, bone and skin have been successfully regenerated in vitro, and these regenerated tissues have been applied clinically. However, organs such as the liver and pancreas constitute numerous cell types, contain small amounts of extracellular matrix, and are highly vascularized. Therefore, organ engineering will require the assembly of cells and/or vesicles. In particular, adhesion between cells/vesicles will be required for regeneration of organs in vitro. This review introduces and discusses the key technologies and materials for the assembly of cells/vesicles for organ regeneration.

Reversible gelation of cells using self-assembling hydrophobically-modified biopolymers: towards self-assembly of tissue

“…tissues and organs. [1][2][3][4] The connection of cells into tissue varies with tissue type. For example, cells could be close-packed via adhesive interactions, or they could be embedded within the extracellular matrix (ECM), which is a fibrous polymeric material that forms a gel-like network around the cells.…”

“…Inspired by the natural assembly of complex biological tissues from cells and ECM, scientists have begun to explore whether cells can be assembled ex vivo to create tissue mimics. [4][5][6][7] A recent review by Taguchi discusses the growing area of "cellular assembly" and describes various approaches in this regard. 4 It is worth emphasizing that cellular assembly is at the heart of biomaterial and tissue engineering.…”

Crosslinking Liposomes/Cells Using Cholesteryl Group-Modified Tilapia Gelatin

“…However, these require special devices and techniques, and require long periods of time for assembly. Therefore, simple and rapid methods for assembling cells are required [ 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”

Three-dimensional cell culture based on microfluidic techniques to mimic living tissues

“…2,3 Therefore, 3D cell culture models combining cells and ECMs should be used to mimic and analyze the cellular functions of living tissues. [1][2][3][4][5] This mini-review focuses on cellular spheroids and cellladen hydrogels as the microsized 3D cell culture models. These microsized models provide attractive 3D microenvironments to culture cells because they consist of microstructures and cell-cell and/or cell-ECM interactions that are typical in living tissues.…”

“…While it is difficult to mimic dense and complex cellular morphologies in living tissues using conventional 3D cellular constructs produced using large biodegradable scaffolds, microsized 3D cell culture models and their assemblies have microstructures resembling living tissues because the engineered tissues retain specific microstructural features. 4 Therefore, cellular spheroids and cell-laden hydrogels are suitable for use as standardized modules in a wide range of applications to investigate cellular functions and reconstruct complex 3D cellular structures. Here, we briefly discuss the fabrication techniques of cellular spheroids and cell-laden hydrogels and finally introduce their assembly methods.…”