Tissue Engineering for Craniofacial Reconstruction

Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising option for the reconstitution of lost or damaged organs and tissues, avoiding the complications associated with traditional transplants.

Tissue engineers attempt to repair or regenerate damaged tissue by using engineered tissue replacements that can maintain functionality during regeneration and ultimately integrate into the host tissue. The conventional tissue-engineering prototype combines isolated cells with suitable bioactive agents in a biomaterial scaffold. It is widely recognized that scaffold architecture can deeply influence the behavior of cells on tissue-engineering constructs.

During the 85th General Session of the International Association for Dental Research, held in March 2007 in New Orleans, LA, USA, scientists from the University of Durham (UK) presented their study's findings reporting on high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) polymerization, which offers tremendous control of scaffold morphology. HIPEs can be readily molded into the irregular shapes frequently needed in craniofacial reconstruction and cured in situ to a rigid foam.

The investigators demonstrated that emulsion templating could be used to generate rigid, biodegradable scaffolds with interconnected pores. These scaffolds are of particular interest in craniofacial tissue engineering, because of the rigidity of the resulting foams and the ease of fabrication.


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University of Durham