Chapter 1 - Angiogenesis and vasculogenesis: Status in tissue engineering

Abstract

Blood vessels formation is a complex biological process in the body, which plays critical roles throughout human life, ranging from embryo development to tissue healing. Numerous experimental studies have tried to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in neovascularization for providing detailed information about its status in physiological or pathological conditions. This helps researchers and scientists to develop effective therapeutic strategies for managing diverse complications in the body, like the tissue healing process. Currently, angiogenesis-inducing approaches are considered as a specific set of therapies in the modern medicine concept since they may lead to accelerated wound healing. On this matter, different bioactive molecules (growth factors and cytokines), stem/progenitor cells (endothelial progenitor cells [EPCs]), and biocompatible materials (e.g., bioceramics) have been investigated and utilized for both hard and soft tissue regeneration. Preliminary reported data have been quite promising, and a bright future is estimated for proangiogenic constructs in clinical practice. Still, optimizing and standardizing developed approaches are of utmost importance for the widespread applications of proangiogenic tissue-engineered (TE) constructs in the clinic. Developing and releasing scientific protocols and guidelines by international regulatory agencies may be beneficial for clinicians, especially reconstructive specialists.