Substitution for In Vitro and In Vivo Tests: Computational Models from Cell Attachment to Tissue Regeneration

To get an optimal product of orthopaedic implant or regenerative medicine needs to follow trial-and-error analyses to investigate suitable product's material, structure, mechanical properites etc. The whole process from in vivo tests to clinical trials is expensive and time-consuming. Computational model is seen as a useful analysis tool to make the product development. A series of models for simulating tissue engineering process from cell attachment to tissue regeneration are reviewed. The challenging is that models for simulating tissue engineering processes are developed separately. From cell to tissue regeneration, it would go through blood injection after moving out the defect; to cell disperse and attach on the scaffold; to proliferation, migration and differentiation; and to the final part-becoming mature tissues. This paper reviewed models that related to tissue engineering process, aiming to provide an opportunity for researchers to develop a mature model for whole tissue engineering process. This article focuses on the model analysis methods of cell adhesion, nutrient transport and cell proliferation, differentiation and migration in tissue engineering. In cell adhesion model, one of the most accurate method is to use discrete phase model to govern cell movement and use Stanton-Rutland model for simulating cell attachment. As for nutrient transport model, numerical model coupling with volume of fluid model and species transport model together is suitable for predicting nutrient transport process. For cell proliferation, differentiation and migration, finite element method with random-walk algorithm is one the most advanced way to simulate these processes. Most of the model analysis methods require further experiments to verify the accuracy and effectiveness. Due to the lack of technology to detect the rate of nutrient diffusion, there are especially few researches on model analysis methods in the area of blood coagulation. Therefore, there is still a lot of work to be done in the research of the whole process model method of tissue engineering. In the future, the numerical model would be seen as an optimal way to investigate tissue engineering products bioperformance and also enable to optimize the parameters and material types of the tissue engineering products.