In-Situ Forming Biomimetic Hydrogels for Tissue Regeneration

Tissue loss or organ failure caused by injury or damage is one of the most serious and costly problems in human health care. Tissue engineering, proposed by Langer et al. in the early 1990’s (Langer & Vacanti, 1993), is an emerging strategy of regenerative biomedicine that holds promise for the restoration of defect tissues and organs. The concept of tissue engineering is defined as “the application of the principles and methods of engineering and the life sciences towards the fundamental understanding of structure-function relationships in normal and pathological mammalian tissues and the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain or improve tissue function“ (Langer & Vacanti, 1993). In order to accomplish these goals by tissue engineering, three essential components are required, that is, cells for the generation of new tissues, scaffolds for supporting the cell growth and the regeneration of new tissues, and bioactive factors capable of stimulating biological signals in vivo for cell proliferation, dfferentiation and tissue growth. Among these, the scaffolds play an important role in the success of tissue regeneration since they serve as temporary temples to mimick the excellular matrix for cell growth and interim mechanical stability for tissue regneration and integration,.