title: Bone tissue engineering scaffolding: computer-aided scaffolding techniques.
abstract: Tissue engineering is essentially a technique for imitating nature. Natural tissues consist of three components: cells, signalling systems (e.g. growth factors) and extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM forms a scaffold for its cells. Hence, the engineered tissue construct is an artificial scaffold populated with living cells and signalling molecules. A huge effort has been invested in bone tissue engineering, in which a highly porous scaffold plays a critical role in guiding bone and vascular tissue growth and regeneration in three dimensions. In the last two decades, numerous scaffolding techniques have been developed to fabricate highly interconnective, porous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications. This review provides an update on the progress of foaming technology of biomaterials, with a special attention being focused on computer-aided manufacturing (Andrade et al. 2002) techniques. This article starts with a brief introduction of tissue engineering (Bone tissue engineering and scaffolds) and scaffolding materials (Biomaterials used in bone tissue engineering). After a brief reviews on conventional scaffolding techniques (Conventional scaffolding techniques), a number of CAM techniques are reviewed in great detail. For each technique, the structure and mechanical integrity of fabricated scaffolds are discussed in detail. Finally, the advantaged and disadvantage of these techniques are compared (Comparison of scaffolding techniques) and summarised (Summary).
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800 Australia.
authors.forename: Boonlom
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thavornyutikarn
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Si Racha, Kasetsart University, 199 Sukhumvit Road, Si Racha, Chonburi 20230 Thailand.
authors.forename: Nattapon
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chantarapanich
authors.affiliation: National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC), 114 Thailand Science Park, Phahonyothin Road, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120 Thailand.
authors.forename: Kriskrai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sitthiseripratip
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800 Australia.
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Thouas
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800 Australia.
authors.forename: Qizhi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: Bioceramics; Bone tissue engineering; Computer-aided scaffolding techniques; Scaffold; Solid free-form fabrication