18 - Use of nanostructured materials in soft tissue engineering

Abstract

Tissue engineering is a successful technique dedicated to reconstruction, regeneration, and restoration of human tissues to their normal functions. Tissue engineering could be a solution to the shortage of donated organs for critical cases. Soft tissue replacement is required for congenital or chronic diseases, tumor rejection or other traumatic lesions, autologous tissue grafts, and (less frequently) for use with allografts, xenografts, and synthetic materials. Soft tissue engineering helps avoid undesired complications, such as infection, graft rejection, etc. Suitable biomaterials are the solution for successful implementation of soft tissue engineering. The main three areas in soft tissue engineering are tissue engineering biomaterials, (which serve as scaffolds for new tissue), progenitor cells (vitro and differentiated in the correct phenotype), and bioactive substances (which stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of the respective cells). In every biomedical applications field, biomaterials and bioactive materials have been widely used. Nanomaterials are effective, programmable solutions suitable for implementation in biomaterials research. Nanobiomaterials are useful for construction, regeneration, and repair as they act directly on fetal tissue, helping it heal and repair.