Porous scaffold design for tissue engineering.
A paradigm shift is taking place in medicine from using synthetic implants and tissue grafts to a tissue engineering approach that uses degradable porous material scaffolds integrated with biological cells or molecules to regenerate tissues. This new paradigm requires scaffolds that balance temporary mechanical function with mass transport to aid biological delivery and tissue regeneration. Little is known quantitatively about this balance as early scaffolds were not fabricated with precise porous architecture. Recent advances in both computational topology design (CTD) and solid free-form fabrication (SFF) have made it possible to create scaffolds with controlled architecture. This paper reviews the integration of CTD with SFF to build designer tissue-engineering scaffolds. It also details the mechanical properties and tissue regeneration achieved using designer scaffolds. Finally, future directions are suggested for using designer scaffolds with in vivo experimentation to optimize tissue-engineering treatments, and coupling designer scaffolds with cell printing to create designer material/biofactor hybrids.
Scaffold Tissue Engineering Group, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 41809, USA. scottho@umich.edu
Scott J
SJ
Hollister
D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D001705:Bioprosthesis; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000379:methods; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D016062:Porosity; D011474:Prosthesis Design / Q000379:methods*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials