Liver tissue engineering: successes & limitations.

Abstract

Tissue engineering is an emerging, multidisciplinary, biotechnology that combines the principles of Engineering and Cell Biology to facilitate the formationde novotissues and organs. This new scientific discipline is primarily targeted towards the creation of functional biological substitutes as opposed to inert implants. Barely two decades in existence, tissue engineering has recently emerged as a viable alternative approach to treat the loss, or malfunction of a structural tissues or organ such as skin, cartilage, bone and small blood vessels. Liver tissue engineering, however, represents a more daunting challenge because, unlike the aforementioned structural organs, the liver is a highly complex metabolic organ and comprises of many components and cell types. Successful creation of functional liver tissue requires a precisely orchestrated synthesis of the vascular system, the liver’s biliary system, and the liver’s parenchymal, stellate and other structural cells to form liver tissue.KeywordsLiver TissueTissue EngineeringHepatocyte Growth FactorHepatocyte CultureVascular Endothelial Cell Growth FactorThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.