Thoughts on Scaffolds

Abstract

Scaffolds are instrumental in the engineering of functional tissues, and therefore have been an intense area of interest within regenerative biology and medicine in areas of research and development. Many approaches exist for creating scaffolds with either natural or synthetic advanced materials, which are subsequently coupled with cells and other materials and microintegrated with the aid of a bioreactor, finally forming a functional three‐dimensional tissue. Although many advances have been made over the years, none of these have truly been successful, as postulated by literature for either biomedical or clinical utility. For example, generated reconstructs have many limitations, such as poor cell infiltration throughout the entire depth of the scaffold, the associated cost, and the time for generating functional reconstructs mimicking native tissue. These and other roadblocks have truly limited the use of scaffolds as tissue engineering biomaterials/building blocks in regenerative medicine. However, these obstacles have recently been overcome with new scaffolding technologies unearthed and pioneered in 2005, which demonstrate the ability to directly handle large quantities of multiple cell types with both a biopolymer and other advanced materials for simultaneously forming a three‐dimensional living reconstruct mimicking native tissues. These recently discovered platform biotechnologies will have significant ramifications for the engineering of a three‐dimensional tissue and for regenerative medicine in general, as these platforms are versatile.

3D Jet Writing: Functional Microtissues Based on Tessellated Scaffold Architectures

“…[12] Similarly, emerging techniques such as cell electrospinning are not compatible with melt electrospinning. [13]…”

Electrospun bioresorbable tissue repair scaffolds: From laboratory to clinic

“…Significant challenges exist in the development of any acellular bioresorbable tissue scaffold manufacturing technology [2,6,7]. Techniques that obtain scaffolds via the decellularisation of biological tissue (porcine, bovine, or human) [8,9,10] can result in tissues closely resembling the original tissues, and can have specific biological interactions with cells that are difficult to duplicate synthetically.…”

Emerging Trends in Information‐Driven Engineering of Complex Biological Systems

“…Layering sub-micrometer-sized fibers over each other resulted in structures with different grid sizes ( Figure 6C) up to a height of 1 mm. [177] Adv. [88] In vitro cell culture studies showed good adhesion, growth, and differentiation of primary human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs), human periodontal ligament (hPDL), and mesenchymal precursor cells ( Figure 6B).…”

“…[175,176] Additionally, cells cannot be directly printed using melt electrospinning. [177] Adv. Mater.…”