Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
11
Development and Application
of Naturally Renewable Scaffold
Materials for Bone Tissue
Engineering
Seth D. McCullen, Ariel D. Hanson, Lucian A. Lucia and Elizabeth G. Loboa
11.1
Introduction
The progression of regenerative medicine has largely been catapulted by the implemen-
tation of tissue engineering based therapies with the hope of providing a replacement
for organ transplantation. Tissue engineering therapies can be defined where a popula-
tion of progenitor or stem cells are directed by their surrounding milieu to differentiate
into a desired tissue. This differentiation process is regulated by both their physical
(e.g. scaffolds, mechanical loads) and chemical (e.g. inductive soluble factors) envi-
ronments. In practice, tissue engineering approaches include the assembly of cells on
a temporary scaffold resembling the tissue's natural extracellular matrix
in vivo
.The
function of this scaffold is to provide the appropriate template for cellular organiza-
tion while maintaining necessary physical and mechanical properties for the seeded
cells to differentiate/mature. The scaffold also achieves the desired physical integrity
for a specific defect site by promoting the cells to deposit their own natural extracel-
lular matrix within the scaffold prior to implantation of the cell-seeded construct at
a tissue defect site. Of the four tissue types in the human body, connective tissue
has seen the most prolific advances in tissue engineering due to its primary function
being rooted in mechanical stability and ambulatory function (1, 2). Within the realm
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