Recent developments in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Currently, patients suffering from diseased and injured organs are treated with transplanted organs or cells. There is, however, a severe shortage of donor tissues and organs that is worsening yearly given the aging population. This paper reviews recent advances that have occurred in regenerative medicine and describes applications of new technologies to treat diseased or damaged organs and tissues.

Most current strategies for tissue engineering depend upon a sample of autologous cells from the diseased organ of the patient. Biopsies from patients with extensive end-stage organ failure, however, may not yield enough normal cells. In these situations, stem cells are envisioned as being an alternative source. Stem cells can be derived from discarded human embryos (human embryonic stem cells), from fetal tissue or from adult sources (bone marrow, fat, skin). Therapeutic cloning offers a potentially limitless source of cells for tissue engineering applications.

Increasingly, scientists in the fields of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering have applied the principles of cell transplantation, material science and bioengineering to construct biological substitutes that will restore and maintain normal function in diseased and injured tissues.