Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
has been made in brain tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
makes us believe that brain regeneration will definitely become a
reality in the near future.
HA-based hydrogels have been extensively investigated as an
ideal tissue engineered scaffold for repairing brain injuries. When
combined with ECM modification and release of small molecules,
such as neurotrophic growth factors and antibodies of inhibitors,
HA-based scaffolds have shown excellent
in vitro
biocompatibilities,
and also significantly reduced glial scar formation and enhanced
axonal regrowth and synapse reconnections
in vivo
. HA-based
scaffolds have also been used to support and deliver NSC into the
lesion cavity. NSC show long-term survival inside the scaffolds and
then proliferate and differentiate into neural cells for brain tissue
regeneration. In spite of these encouraging achievements, complete
functional recovery has not been observed so far. With regard to a
long term evaluation, biomaterial scaffolds do not exhibit obvious
superiority in functional recovery comparing with blank controls.
Hence, it is obvious that there is still a long and challenging way to
go in the field of brain regeneration.
From the viewpoint of biomaterials, future design and fabrication
of ideal scaffolds will certainly focus on the development of
multifunctional biomaterial-based systems that mimic the natural
ECM microenvironment to integrate different regulating cues,
including the delivery of bioactive agents and stem/progenitor
cells, blocking the inhibitory factors, and directing stem cell lineage
specification. Beyond that, angiogenesis in tissue engineered scaffolds
and neotissues has recently been proven to be a key feature of
CNS injury repair and has roles in triggering axonal sprouting and
subsequent functional recovery [53, 54]. Therefore, the angiogenic
activities of biomaterial scaffolds should also be considered in the
context of brain tissue engineering.
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