Tissue engineering - Orthopaedic Biomaterials in Research and Practice - page 225

CHaPTer NINe
Tissue engineering
Synthetic materials such as metals, ceramics, and polymers are widely
used in the medical devices. However, it is a desire of designers to
design and develop intermediate treatments that are more “natural,”
which has ushered “tissue engineering” into the biomedical field. Tissue
engineering,* as a discipline, is “an interdisciplinary field that applies
the principles of engineering and life sciences toward the development
of biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue or
organ function.” The objective of the field is the use of a combination of
cells, engineering and materials methods, and biochemical and physio-
chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions. Most tissue-
engineering applications involve the repair or replacement of portions
of or whole tissues, such as bone, cartilage, blood vessels, bladder, skin,
and so on. These tissue-engineered devices are required to meet certain
mechanical and structural property specifications for proper function-
ing. Other terms have been used synonymously with tissue engineering,
such as regenerative medicine or engineering, or genetic engineering.
However, there are some subtle but distinct differences between these
terms. For example, regenerative medicine places more emphasis on the
use of stem cells to produce tissues. Also differentiated, genetic engi-
neering involves altering the genetic makeup of an organism by remov-
ing DNA material or by introducing DNA prepared outside the organism
either directly into the host or into a cell that is then fused or hybridized
with the host.
Significance of tissue engineering
The concept of tissue engineering involves creating more complex
organisms from simpler pieces of living specimens. Historically, some
may say that tissue engineering was rooted in the Biblical account of
Eve being created from Adam's rib, which in modern times may be a
form of hybrid cloning. The growth of tissue engineering can be seen
* Langer R, Vacanti JP (May 1993). Tissue engineering. Science 260 : 920-926.