Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Continuum Modelling of In Vitro Tissue
Engineering: A Review
RD O'Dea, HM Byrne and SL Waters
Abstract By providing replacements for damaged tissues and organs, in vitro tissue
engineering has the potential to become a viable alternative to donor-provided organ
transplant, which is increasingly hampered by a shortage of available tissue. The
complexity of the myriad biophysical and biochemical processes that together
regulate tissue growth renders almost impossible understanding by experimental
investigation alone. Mathematical modelling applied to tissue engineering repre-
sents a powerful tool with which to investigate how the different underlying pro-
cesses interact to produce functional tissues for implantation. The aim of this review
is to demonstrate how a combination of mathematical modelling, analysis and in
silico computation, undertaken in collaboration with experimental studies, may lead
to significant advances in our understanding of the fundamental processes that
regulate biological tissue growth and the optimal design of in vitro methods for
generating replacement tissues that are fully functional. With this in mind, we
review the state-of-the-art in theoretical research in the field of in vitro tissue
engineering, concentrating on continuum modelling of cell culture in bioreactor
systems and with particular emphasis on the generation of new tissues from cells
seeded on porous scaffolds. We highlight the advantages and limitations of different
mathematical modelling approaches that can be used to study aspects of cell
R. O'Dea (
&
)
School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University Clifton Campus,
Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK
e-mail: reuben.odea@ntu.ac.uk
H. Byrne
Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Institute,
Gibson Building, Oxford, OX2 6HA, UK
S. Waters
Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Institute,
24-29 St Giles', Oxford, OX1 3LB, UK
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