Biomaterials and manufacturing methods for scaffold in regenerative medicine

It has been recognized that regenerative medicine and tissue engineering offer an alternative technique to whole-organ and tissue transplantation for diseased, failed, or malfunctioning organs. In order to reconstitute a new tissue by regenerative medicine and tissue engineering techniques, three factors-(1) cells that are dissociated and harvested from the donor tissue, (2) biomaterials as scaffold substrates in which cells are attached and cultured, resulting in the implantation at the desired site of the functioning tissue, and (3) growth factors that are promoting and/or preventing cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, and differentiation for stem cells-are required. Among these three key components, scaffolds might play a very critical role in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. The role of scaffolds is to induce and stimulate the growth of cells seeded within the porous structure of the scaffolds or of cells migrating from surrounding tissue, eventually mimicking a "Mother Nature" extracellular matrix (ECM). This handbook introduces the recent trends in the development of biomaterials and the fabrication methods of regenerative medicinal and tissue-engineered "intelligent" scaffolds. In summary, in order to approach a more natural, threedimensional (3D) environment, researches combined biology, biochemistry, material engineering, clinical benchsidework, etc., with multidisciplinary networks and have attempted to redesign scaffolds that will support biological signals for tissue growth and reorganization.