INTRODUCTION
Degeneration or damage of tissues due to disease or trauma should be treated by
replacement/regeneration and repair. This is carried out by autograft or allograft which are
life-saving and revolutionary strategies. However, they are accompanied by major problems
involving tissue rejections. These limitations can be overcome by the advances in
regenerative medicine/tissue engineering by developing biological substitutes which help in
restoring tissue function [2]. [scaffold fabrication techniques]
Tissue engineering is a new field of bioengineering, and it combines the techniques and
principles of engineering, cell biology and material science to create tissue succedaneums
that can imitate natural tissues structurally and physiologically.10.
The term “tissue engineering” (TE) was first defined by Langer and Vacanti in the 1990's [3]
[ Polymeric nanocomposite scaffold in bone TE]
"Applying the principles and methods of engineering and life sciences to fundamentally
understand the structure–function relationship between normal and mammalian tissues, and
develop biological substitutes to restore, maintain, or improve tissue function" is the official
definition of "tissue engineering" as provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
That is, in tissue engineering, a variety of biomaterials (including polymers, ceramics and
inorganic substances), bioactive molecules and cells are integrated to induce and/or stimulate
differentiation signals, and promote tissue regeneration at the lesion or damaged site.11.
[application of nanomaterial in tissue engineering]
The goal of tissue engineering is to develop new functional tissues and to regenerate tissue
either in vitro or in vivo to cure diseases when surgery is needed [7]. The general strategies in
tissue engineering can be classified into 3 groups: (i) implantation into the organism of
isolated cells or cell replacements, (ii) delivering tissue that induces substances such as
growth factor. Generally, growth factor refers to proteins or polypeptides that can promote
tissue growth, (iii) placing cells in or on various matrices [6]. Tissue engineering is majorly
classified into two types: (a) soft tissue engineering that deals with skin, blood vessel,
tendon/ligament, cardiac patch, nerve and skeletal muscle, (b) hard tissue engineering that
deals with bone [8] [ Polymeric nanocomposite scaffold in bone TE]
Cells are generally attached to extracellular matrix (ECM) composed of mainly bioactive
agents, structural proteins, adhesive proteins, and proteoglycan-protein polysaccharide
complexes [9–11]. Tissue engineering provides porous biodegradable scaffolds with growth
factors, bioactive agents that mimic the nature of ECM and help in regeneration/development
of various tissues. [nanomedicine as scaffold in TE]
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex network of macromolecules that provides
structural and biochemical support to surrounding cells. A typical ECM is a well hydrated
nanocomposite which contains a variety of proteins and fibres, including signalling proteins,
proteoglycans, reticular fibres, adhesion proteins, collagen fibres, and elastic fibres, many of
which contribute to the rigidity of the ECM [37,45]. ECM contains growth factors and
mediates both cell–cell and cell-substrate interactions, making it a key component of native
microenvironments [41. All the constituent parts of the ECM are necessary for maintaining
the biological, physical, and mechanical signalling that controls essential cell functions
including migration, differentiation, adhesion, migration, apoptosis, polarity, gene expression,
proliferation, and tissue morphogenesis [35,37,38,41]. [application of nanotech in 3D
printed TE scaffolds]
Scaffolds are designed to act as a 3D support structure to the surrounding tissue mimicking
ECM, with advantageous characteristics, including: (i) porous structure that promotes cell-
biomaterial interactions, cell adhesion, growth and migration, (ii) interconnected pores to
facilitate transport of mass, nutrients, and regulatory factors to allow cell survival,
proliferation, and differentiation, (iii) adequate mechanical properties as tensile strength and
elasticity, (iv) controlled degradation, and (v) minimal degree of inflammation or toxicity in
vivo. [ 133 ] Furthermore, scaffolds have desirable characteristics for cell transfer into a
defect site and to restrict cell loss, instead of simple injection of cells to the defects. [ 134]
[ Natural composite scaffolds in TE]
A perfect scaffold should be biocompatible to prevent unmanted host replies, biodegradable
with sufficient physical and mechanical characteristics [196,197]. The scaffold's interlinked
porosity facilitates cell spreading and nutrient, oxygen, waste and growth factors to be
transported, promoting the sustained development of tissue from the outskirts into the inner
part of the scaffold [198]. A scaffold should replace regenerative tissue while retaining the
shape and size of the final tissue structure [28,199]. [ Polymeric nanocomposite scaffold in
bone TE]