Constructing a tissue engineered intervertebral disc scaffold / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Advancement in bioengineering based upon tissue engineering techniques may offer the possibility of repairing degenerative intervertebral disc. OBJECTIVE:To summarize the research progress in the scaffolds of tissue engineered intervertebral disc. METHODS:A computer-based retrieval was performed to search manuscripts describing tissue engineered intervertebral disc scaffolds published between January 1st, 1900 and December 31st, 2012 in PubMed database with the key words of“tissue engineering, intervertebral disc, scaffold”in English. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Scaffold is an important part of tissue-engineered research. There are three kinds of materials for intervertebral disc scaffoldsnatural biomaterials, synthetic materials, and composite materials. A variety of scaffold materials have their own advantages and disadvantages. Up to now, none of these scaffold materials is accepted as the most suitable one. The selection of scaffold materials is stil to be further studied. The study and development of nanoscale biomaterials is an inevitable trend. Otherwise, with the help of bionics, improving scaffolds is also an inexorable trend in progress of simulating human intervertebral disc. Furthermore, injectable scaffold is also an research hot spot, and the selection range of injectable scaffold materials mainly focuses on chitosan, typeⅡcolagen,hyaluronic acid,fibrin,elastin,and alginate.C urrently, studies on chitosan as a scaffold material are relatively more.