Significant Role of Tissue Engineering in Regenerative Medicine

The objective of regenerative medicine is to allow cells to induce the regeneration of body tissues, resulting in therapeutic repair of detective tissues as well as substitution of the biological functions of damaged organs. With the development of research in basic medical science and biology on cells, it is indispensable to create a suitable environment for the cells to induce regeneration in order to achieve successful tissue regeneration. Tissue engineering is the biomedical technology or methodology to build this environment, utilizing cells, the cell scaffold, growth factors, or appropriate combinations of the three. A 3-dimensional scaffold is used to assist cell proliferation and differentiation. Growth factor is often required to promote tissue regeneration, while it can induce angiogenesis necessary for the supply of oxygen and nutrients to ensure survival of the transplanted cells and to maintain the biological functions. However, growth factor used in solution form cannot always be expected to manifest biological effects because of its poor in vivo stability, unless the technology of drug delivery systems (DDS) is applied. In this paper, in addition to a brief overview of tissue engineering, several research data on tissue regeneration are presented to emphasize the significance of tissue engineering in regenerative medicine.