Tissue Engineering: Current Strategies and Future Directions

Abstract

Novel therapies resulting from regenerative medicine and tissue engineering technology may offer new hope for patients with injuries, end-stage organ failure, or other clinical issues. Currently, patients with diseased and injured organs are often treated with transplanted organs. However, there is a shortage of donor organs that is worsening yearly as the population ages and as the number of new cases of organ failure increases. Scientists in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering are now applying the principles of cell transplantation, material science, and bioengineering to construct biological substitutes that can restore and maintain normal function in diseased and injured tissues. In addition, the stem cell field is a rapidly advancing part of regenerative medicine, and new discoveries in this field create new options for this type of therapy. For example, new types of stem cells, such as amniotic fluid and placental stem cells that can circumvent the ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cells, have been discovered. The process of therapeutic cloning and the creation of induced pluripotent cells provide still other potential sources of stem cells for cell-based tissue engineering applications. Although stem cells are still in the research phase, some therapies arising from tissue engineering endeavors that make use of autologous, adult cells have already entered the clinical setting, indicating that regenerative medicine holds much promise for the future.

Retracted:Promoting the Recovery of Injured Liver with Poly (3-Hydroxybutyrate-Co-3-Hydroxyvalerate-Co-3-Hydroxyhexanoate) Scaffolds Loaded with Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

“…New cell-based therapies of liver diseases became the focus of research to create an artificial liver as a substitute for donor organs. 2 Three-dimensional biocompatible scaffolds can provide a supporting structure for cell growth, facilitate the cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, and have a promoting effect on cell attachment and differentiation. 3,4 Finding a suitable scaffold plays an important role in tissue engineering.…”

Hydrogels for cardiac tissue engineering

“…So far, a wide range of different cell sources have been utilized in engineering cardiac tissues. 6,9 For instance, primary cardiomyocytes, 3 8,67 and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) 3,8,9 have been used in efforts to regenerate the damaged myocardium. Because of the limited access to primary cardiomyocytes and their minimal capability for expansion in vitro, alternative cell sources were used as mentioned above.…”

“…2 However, due to the limited number of organ donors and potential rejection problems, innovative alternative approaches are needed. 6,7 Direct injection of cells into the cardiac muscle has been used as a method of delivering cells into the infarcted tissue. 4,5,8,9 In vivo, this approach has been shown to achieve some success in regaining muscle function after MI.…”

Spatial patterning of endothelial cells and vascular network formation using ultrasound standing wave fields

“…Since the emergence of tissue engineering as a new approach to provide replacement tissue for diseased or injured organs, research and development have led to the clinical implementation of several engineered products (Olson et al, 2011). The first commercially available tissues included skin substitutes and cartilage replacements (Chung and Burdick, 2008;Priya et al, 2008;Jaklenec et al, 2012).…”