THREE-DIMENSIONAL SHAPE CONTROL OF IMPLANT DEVICES - Intelligent Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine - page 579

Chapter 29

THREE-DIMENSIONAL SHAPE CONTROL
OF IMPLANT DEVICES

Ung-il Chung, * Hideto Saijoh, Kazuyo Igawa, Yuki Kanno,
Yoshiyuki Mori, and Tsuyoshi Takato
Department of Bioengineering, the University of Tokyo
Graduate Schools of Engineering and Medicine & Division
of Tissue Engineering, the University of Tokyo
Hospital 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
*[e-mail]

The performance of the scaffolds holds a key to the realization of
tissue engineering/regenerative medicine in clinical settings. We
have focused on the vital role of the dimensional compatibility of
the scaffolds. By controlling the three-dimensional (3D) shape of
the scaffolds, we have significantly improved the performance of
the artificial bones, which have good dimensional compatibility,
resultantreductionintheoperationtimeandcorrespondinginva-
siveness, and resultant speedy union with the host bone tissues.
We conclude that 3D shape control is vital to the performance of
thescaffolds.Weproposethatitisworthconsideringatleastonce
toattempttocontrolthe3Dshapeofthescaffoldbyoptimizingthe
design and fabrication method, before using expensive and high-
risk growth factors and cells.