Scaffolding Strategies for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Applications

Abstract

During the past two decades, tissue engineering and the regenerative medicine field have invested in the regeneration and reconstruction of pathologically altered tissues, such as cartilage, bone, skin, heart valves, nerves and tendons, and many others. The 3D structured scaffolds and hydrogels alone or combined with bioactive molecules or genes and cells are able to guide the development of functional engineered tissues, and provide mechanical support during in vivo implantation. Naturally derived and synthetic polymers, bioresorbable inorganic materials, and respective hybrids, and decellularized tissue have been considered as scaffolding biomaterials, owing to their boosted structural, mechanical, and biological properties. A diversity of biomaterials, current treatment strategies, and emergent technologies used for 3D scaffolds and hydrogel processing, and the tissue-specific considerations for scaffolding for Tissue engineering (TE) purposes are herein highlighted and discussed in depth. The newest procedures focusing on the 3D behavior and multi-cellular interactions of native tissues for further use for in vitro model processing are also outlined. Completed and ongoing preclinical research trials for TE applications using scaffolds and hydrogels, challenges, and future prospects of research in the regenerative medicine field are also presented.

Proteins and Peptides as Important Modifiers of the Polymer Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications—A Review

“…Nevertheless, the specified features of biomaterials (e.g., pore size or mechanical strength) are closely associated with their future applications. For instance, biomaterials for skin TE may possess lower mechanical strength compared to scaffolds dedicated for bone TE [9][10][11]13,17,18,31,33,196,[199][200][201].…”

3D Chitin Scaffolds of Marine Demosponge Origin for Biomimetic Mollusk Hemolymph-Associated Biomineralization Ex-Vivo

“…Alternatively, diverse fractions of flakes, powders and nano forms of chitin (i.e., nanowhiskers, nanofibrils and nanocrystals) [128][129][130] can be obtained from demineralized and deproteinated crustaceans' chitin. Such scaffolding strategies [131], however, are connected with technological difficulties and other disadvantages which can be a critical weakness in terms of cost and future clinical use [132].…”

Biomaterials in ophthalmology: human cornea bioengineering

“…In cornea tissue engineering, many methods were successfully addressed in the scaffold's fabrication. Electrospinning and bioprinting [26] or chemical reactions are promising solutions for designing a specific biomaterial-based structure suitable for tissue restoration and regeneration. According to a recent study, corneal blindness can be controlled by using biomedical constructs designed to improve the quality of vision.…”

“…This additive manufacturing technique allows defining and controlling the geometry of a tissue or organ, with or without cell-biomaterial interactions (depending on the needs). It has many advantages, as described in Table 1, but the biggest issue is related to the inaccurate mechanism by which corneal cells can be placed within the artificial construct [26] Bioprinting enables the fabrication of complex biomaterial-based constructs, which can be chemically associated with living cells through the layer-by-layer method in order to create cornea-mimicking tissue constructs [32,33].…”