Matrices for tissue-engineered skin

Academic, clinical and industrial efforts are increasingly being directed toward the use of molecular- and cell-based therapies for diagnosis and treatment of a great number and broad variety of pathologies and injuries. Hence, tissue engineering is, next to genetic engineering, widely heralded as the healthcare technology heir of the revolutionary advances in life sciences. In a cost-controlled healthcare environment, only those technologies capable of providing a major enhancement to quality of life and a reduction in expenditure will be driven forward. Skin tissue engineering concepts based on the application of a scaffold/cell construct represent a treatment concept with the clear potential to meet this criterion. Several important issues concerning the research and product strategy (e.g., choice of matrix of natural or synthetic polymer origin and the use of autogenic versus allogenic cells) remain to be fully resolved. However, there is little doubt that wound regeneration via modern tissue engineering strategies will present significant therapeutic benefits when compared with existing treatments. This paper reviews the biography and future research directions of matrices used in skin tissue engineering.