Abstract
Tissue engineering is a promising approach to repair tendon and muscle when natural healing fails. Biohybrid constructs obtained after cells’ seeding and culture in dedicated scaffolds have indeed been considered as relevant tools for mimicking native tissue, leading to a better integration in vivo. They can also be employed to perform advanced in vitro studies to model the cell differentiation or regeneration processes. In this review, we report and analyze the different solutions proposed in literature, for the reconstruction of tendon, muscle, and the myotendinous junction. They classically rely on the three pillars of tissue engineering, i.e., cells, biomaterials and environment (both chemical and physical stimuli). We have chosen to present biomimetic or bioinspired strategies based on understanding of the native tissue structure/functions/properties of the tissue of interest. For each tissue, we sorted the relevant publications according to an increasing degree of complexity in the materials’ shape or manufacture. We present their biological and mechanical performances, observed in vitro and in vivo when available. Although there is no consensus for a gold standard technique to reconstruct these musculo-skeletal tissues, the reader can find different ways to progress in the field and to understand the recent history in the choice of materials, from collagen to polymer-based matrices.
Highlights
The most advanced studies on tissue engineering (TE) concerning the musculo-skeletal system focus on bone and cartilage tissue engineering [1,2,3]
After nine days of culture, cells achieved tendon/ligament-differentiation and produced more collagen on larger fibers, regardless of fiber alignment. It seems that small, nano-scale random fibers provide a cell environment similar to that found in the inflammatory phase of the tendon healing process, promoting the synthesis of the ECM and cell proliferation, while larger aligned fibers mimic the normal structure of collagen in tendon, maintaining the tendon cell phenotype
It is obvious that tissue engineering of the musculo-tendinous system is still in its early stages
Summary
The most advanced studies on tissue engineering (TE) concerning the musculo-skeletal system focus on bone and cartilage tissue engineering [1,2,3]. We have chosen to present biomimetic or bioinspired strategies that are based on an understanding of the native tissue structure/functions/properties of the tissue of interest. We postulate that in-depth understanding of the native functions of muscle and tendon, as well as their alterations, should guide the research program leading to their reconstruction. To highlight the efforts that are made to understand native structures, structures, the first part will present the multi-scale organization of the tissue of interest (tendon or the first part will present the multi-scale organization of the tissue of interest (tendon or muscle), muscle), followed by a second part showing the alterations, leading to the need for reconstruction. Multi-scale description of a skeletal muscle (b) and a tendon (c)
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