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Are synthetic scaffolds suitable for the development of clinical tissue‐engineered tubular organs?
Author(s) -
Gaudio Costantino,
Baiguera Silvia,
Ajalloueian Fatemeh,
Bianco Alessandra,
Macchiarini Paolo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.34883
Subject(s) - scaffold , biocompatible material , economic shortage , tissue engineering , materials science , biomedical engineering , transplantation , regeneration (biology) , decellularization , adhesion , regenerative medicine , stem cell , medicine , surgery , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , linguistics , philosophy , government (linguistics) , composite material
Transplantation of tissues and organs is currently the only available treatment for patients with end‐stage diseases. However, its feasibility is limited by the chronic shortage of suitable donors, the need for life‐long immunosuppression, and by socioeconomical and religious concerns. Recently, tissue engineering has garnered interest as a means to generate cell‐seeded three‐dimensional scaffolds that could replace diseased organs without requiring immunosuppression. Using a regenerative approach, scaffolds made by synthetic, nonimmunogenic, and biocompatible materials have been developed and successfully clinically implanted. This strategy, based on a viable and ready‐to‐use bioengineered scaffold, able to promote novel tissue formation, favoring cell adhesion and proliferation, could become a reliable alternative to allotransplatation in the next future. In this article, tissue‐engineered synthetic substitutes for tubular organs (such as trachea, esophagus, bile ducts, and bowel) are reviewed, including a discussion on their morphological and functional properties. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 102A: 2427–2447, 2014