Stem cells for tendon tissue engineering and regeneration.
BACKGROUND
Tendon injuries are common especially in sports activities, but tendon is a unique connective tissue with poor self-repair capability. With advances in stem cell biology, tissue engineering is becoming increasingly powerful for tissue regeneration. Stem cells with capacity of multipotency and self-renewal are an ideal cell source for tissue engineering.


METHODS
This review focus on discussing the potential strategies including inductive growth factors, bio-scaffolds, mechanical stimulation, genetic modification and co-culture techniques to direct tendon-lineage differentiation of stem cells for complete tendon regeneration. Attempting to use embryonic stem cells as seed cells for tendon tissue engineering have achieved encouraging results. The combination of chemical and physical signals in stem cell microenvironment could be regulated to induce differentiation of the embryonic stem cells into tendon.


RESULTS
We summarize fundamental questions, as well as future directions in tendon biology and tissue engineering.


CONCLUSIONS
Multifaceted technologies are increasingly required to control stem cell differentiation, to develop novel stem cell-based therapy, and, ultimately, to achieve more effective repair or regeneration of injured tendons.
Yin
Zi
Z
Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, Center for Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Mailbox #39, 388 Yu Hang Tang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Chen
Xiao
X
Chen
Jia-Lin
JL
Ouyang
Hong-Wei
HW
D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D006801:Humans; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D013708:Tendon Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013710:Tendons / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing