Author(s):
Mano, J. F. 
; Silva, G. A. ; Azevedo, Helena S. ; Malafaya, P. B. ; Sousa, R. A. ; Silva, S. S. ; Boesel, L. F. ; Oliveira, Joaquim M. ; Santos, T. C. ; Marques, A. P. ; Neves, N. M. ; Reis, R. L.
Date: 2007
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/20206
Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Subject(s): Natural origin polymers; Biomacromolecules; Tissue engineering; Biomedical applications; Biodegradable
Description
The fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine aim at promoting the
regeneration of tissues or replacing failing or malfunctioning organs, by means of
combining a scaffold/support material, adequate cells and bioactive molecules. Different
materials have been proposed to be used as both three-dimensional porous scaffolds and
hydrogel matrices for distinct tissue engineering strategies. Among them, polymers of
natural origin are one of the most attractive options, mainly due to their similarities with
the extracellular matrix (ECM), chemical versatility as well as typically good biological
performance. In this review, the most studied and promising and recently proposed
naturally derived polymers that have been suggested for tissue engineering applications are
described. Different classes of such type of polymers and their blends with synthetic
polymers are analysed, with special focus on polysaccharides and proteins, the systems
that are more inspired by the ECM. The adaptation of conventional methods or nonconventional
processing techniques for processing scaffolds from natural origin based
polymers is reviewed. The use of particles, membranes and injectable systems from such
kind of materials is also overviewed, especially what concerns the present status of the
research that should lead towards their final application. Finally, the biological
performance of tissue engineering constructs based on natural-based polymers is discussed,
using several examples for different clinically relevant applications.
