Novel Multifunctional Scaffolds for Tissue Regeneration

Abstract

In scaffold-based tissue engineering, scaffold materials and scaffolds themselves underpin the success of any strategy for the regeneration of human body tissues. Biodegradable tissue engineering scaffolds provide a microenvironment for cells to adhere, proliferate and differentiate, leading to new tissue formation. Traditional materials for tissue engineering show their limitations and many groups around the world adopt the composite approach in developing new tissue engineering materials. On the other hand, multifunctionality of tissue engineering scaffolds is constantly pursued now, spurring the development of new, multifunctional scaffolds. For example, by employing controlled release strategies that are successfully used in the drug delivery field, growth factors can be encapsulated in tissue engineering scaffolds during scaffold manufacture and then released in vitro or in vivo in a controlled manner, which greatly assists new tissue formation. In regenerating complex body tissues, the temporal and spatial control of biomolecule release is important. Using the hybrid approach, multicomponent scaffolds can be constructed, with each component in the scaffold acting separately as a delivery vehicle for respective bioactive agent. In many circumstances, the selection of a scaffold fabrication technology and the design of novel nanocomposite for scaffolds must be considered together. Many techniques are now available for fabricating tissue engineering scaffolds. However, not all of them are suitable for encapsulating biomolecules in scaffolds. This talk introduces our strategies, approaches and work in the development of multifunctional tissue engineering scaffolds. A few critical issues in biomaterial and scaffold design, fabrication and evaluation will be discussed.