Tissue engineering: implications in the treatment of organ and tissue defects

The loss or failure of organs and tissues due to injury/trauma or ageing is one of the major causes for concern in human health care. Tissue engineering, a new emerging field in modern biomedical sciences, promises a new ray of hope for transplantation biology by creating viable substitutes for such failing organs or tissues. Tissue engineering is rapidly growing in both scope and importance within biomedical engineering. It represents the marriage of rapid developments in cellular and molecular biology on the one hand and materials, chemical and mechanical engineering on the other. The ability to manipulate and reconstitute tissue function has tremendous clinical implications and is likely to play a key role in cell and gene therapies in the coming years. This article discusses the basic principles of tissue engineering and some of the attempts made to provide solutions by engineering tissues in vitro.