What Is Tissue Engineering?

Tissue engineering is a new discipline that combines cell biology and materials science to construct tissues or organs in vitro or in vivo.

Tissue engineering is a new discipline that combines cell biology and materials science to construct tissues or organs in vitro or in vivo.

Basic Principles of Tissue Engineering

Obtain a small amount of living tissue from the body, use special enzymes or other methods to isolate cells (also known as seed cells) from the tissue and in vitro culture and expansion, and then expand the expanded cells with good biocompatibility, can be Degradable and absorbable biomaterials (scaffolds) are mixed in a certain ratio to make cells adhere to the biomaterials (scaffolds) to form cell-material composites; the composites are implanted into the tissue or organ lesions of the body. The biological material is gradually degraded and absorbed in the body, the implanted cells continue to proliferate and secrete extracellular matrix in the body, and eventually form corresponding tissues or organs, so as to achieve the purpose of repairing wounds and rebuilding functions. The three-dimensional structure formed by the biological material scaffold not only provides a good environment for cells to obtain nutrition, growth and metabolism. The development of tissue engineering has provided a technical means for tissue regeneration, which will change the traditional surgical mode of repairing wounds with trauma and enter a new stage of non-invasive repair. The so-called three or four elements of tissue engineering mainly include seed cells, biological materials, the integration of cells and biological materials, and the integration of implants and the microenvironment in the body. At the same time, the development of tissue engineering will also change the traditional medical model, further develop into regenerative medicine and eventually be used in the clinic.

History of Tissue Engineering

The history of the establishment of tissue engineering can be traced back to the 1980s. Professor Joseph P. Vacanti and Robert Langer of the United States first proposed the research of tissue engineering research and published their research results in an article in the journal Science. The term tissue engineering was coined by Professor YC Fung, a well-known Chinese-American scientist, and was identified by the National Science Foundation Board in 1987. In the history of the development of tissue engineering, the successful application of tissue engineering technology in nude mice to form human auricular morphology cartilage with skin covering is a major breakthrough. Ears [pictures] on the back of nude mice indicate that tissue engineering technology can form tissues and organs with complex three-dimensional spatial structures, showing the broad prospects of tissue engineering from basic to clinical applications.

At present tissue engineering technology can be applied to reproduce various tissues, such as muscles, bones, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, artificial blood vessels and skin; development of biological artificial organs, such as artificial pancreas, liver, kidney, etc .; development of artificial blood; nerves Aspects of prosthesis and drug delivery.

References:

[1] Edited by Cao Yilin. Theory and Practice of Tissue Engineering. 1st edition, Shanghai: Shanghai Science and Technology Press, 2004, p3-8.

[2] Langer R, Vacanti JP. Tissue engineering. Science, 1993, 260 (5 110): 920-926.