Intestinal tissue engineering: from regenerative medicine to model systems.
BACKGROUND
Tissue engineering is a rapidly emerging field that combines the established disciplines of engineering, biology, and medicine with the goal of fabricating viable tissues and organs. Although initially targeted for applications in regenerative medicine, a novel application of this technology has been to generate experimental model systems for studying biological mechanisms and testing the efficacy of potential therapies.


METHODS
Review and analysis of the literature.


CONCLUSIONS
We present the limitations of existing models and provide examples of how tissue engineering has allowed for the generation of new models that may overcome these limitations.
Rocha
Flavio G
FG
Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Whang
Edward E
EE
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012038:Regeneration; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods