Advances and applications of tissue bioengineering

Abstract

Bioengineering compiles knowledge of major areas of science such as biology and engineering, which are currently used in restorative medicine. Recent advances in tissue engineering have enabled the development and improvement of new biomaterials. These should encourage adherence, differentiation and proliferation, and yet promote the production of specific molecules of the target tissue. The cells used in therapy can be the bone marrow’s mesenchymal cells, specific adult cells from the patient, as well as the embryonic stem cells which have the capacity to differentiate themselves into multiple lineages in vitro. Stem cells have been used in several areas of health. Mesenchymal cells and dental pulp are sources of stem cells that can differentiate themselves into fibroblasts, cementoblasts and osteoblasts. In order to obtain such differentiation some signs are necessary to direct the development’s and the tissue’s regeneration’s steps. One of the major challenges of tissue engineering is to discover these signs and steps with the purpose of understanding the necessary signals for the tissue’s reproduction. Advances in research on stem cells and on tissue bioengineering offer opportunities to develop new therapies such as gene therapy, as well as studies related to angiogenesis. Nowadays, it is known that the adult stem cells are present in blood vessels, pancreas, liver, brain, dental pulp, among other tissues, however the bone marrow cells are the most studied in the context of many diseases, especially the cardiovascular ones. After the embryonic stem cells, the most questionable biological treatment is the gene therapy. In order to correct genetic defects, it is necessary to insert genes into the cells which, most of the times, are introduced by means of virus. This article has the scope of approaching the role of the stem cells, the angiogenesis, the gene therapy in tissue bioengineering and the cell’s interaction associated with biomaterials.