基于水凝胶的“自下而上”组织工程技术研究进展

随着微纳生物制造技术和新型生物材料(如新型水凝胶)的发展,基于模块化组装的"自下而上"组织工程技术引起了广泛的关注,在复杂微结构和血管化组织/器官构建方面显示了广阔的发展前景.本文介绍了"自下而上"组织工程技术的基本原理及模块单元的制备和组装方法,综述和讨论了"自下而上"组织工程技术在体外重构三维组织/器官方面取得的最新研究进展,并对其在生物医学领域的发展前景进行了展望.

Advances in Hydrogel-based Bottom-Up Tissue Engineering

With the development of micro-/nano- bioengineering technology and novel biomaterials (e.g., functional hydrogels), bottom-up tissue engineering, which aims to fabricate functional tissue constructs from assembling small units, has attracted increasing interest. Bottom-up approaches hold great potential for fabricating complex and vascularized tissue constructs for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. In this review, we first illustrate the fundamental principles of bottom-up tissue engineering and then introduce different approaches for creating and assembling modular units, respectively. The advantages and disadvantages of these bottom-up tissue engineering technologies are also discussed. Finally, conclusions and future perspectives are given.