Chapter 21 - Role of angiogenesis in bladder tissue engineering

Abstract

Bladder damage can seriously affect the quality of patients' life. Traditional treatment such as gastrointestinal segments replacement will inevitably induce associated complications. In recent years, novel promising strategies for bladder reconstruction based on regenerative medicine, such as tissue engineering, are gradually being explored. A key issue in tissue engineering is rapid and sufficient angiogenesis, which in turn is dependent on the coordination of proper scaffold materials, suitable seeding cells and growth factors. Owe to the development of biomaterials, the last two decades have witnessed much progress in the field of bladder tissue engineering and corresponding angiogenesis. In this chapter, we started from brief introducing the anatomic structures of the bladder and followed by describing the commonly used scaffold materials, seeding cells and growth factors in the tissue engineering of bladder. Next, recent progresses for the exploring of angiogenesis in bladder tissue engineering were emphasized. We then summarized the useful detection methods for angiogenesis in tissue engineering, and finally put forward the perspectives in the challenging topic of bladder tissue engineering and corresponding angiogenesis.