Tissue engineering synthetic composite materials

There are several synthetic composite materials and their applications in tissue engineering are versatile. For instance, in one study a composite of carboxymethyl-chitin (CM-chitin) with hydroxyapatite (HAp) was examined for its ability to repair bone in animals. New bone formation of CM-chitin-HAp composite was superior to that of CM-chitin, HAp, and control (Tokura and Tamura, 2001). The porous CM-chitin-HAp composite was also a functional... 

Topics within individual chapters include DDS in eaneer chemotherapy Polymeric hydrogels in drug release composite materials as scaffolds for tissue engineering. Synthetic peptide and their polymers as vaecines. 

The aim of the second project, 3G-SCAFF (Third Generation Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine) , is to develop an extra-cellular matrix to be used as biomaterial. This matrix is a complex composition of essential materials oe cells live and grow. The cells are used as a micro foctory for the productirm and composition of a molecular structure - the extra cellular matrix - that cannot be produced with synthetic instruments. 

Hydrogels are three-dimensional hydrophilic networks with the ability to absorb and retain large amounts of water (15). Hydrogels can be from natural or synthetic polymers and are attractive materials for tissue engineering applications because of their excellent biocompatibility, biodegradabUity, elasticity and compositional similarities to the extracellular matrix. 

As discussed above, polymers play a pivotal role in tissue engineering. To fiilfill the diverse needs in tissue engineering, various polymers have been exploited in tissue engineering research, including natural polsrmers (macromolecules), natural polymer-derived materials, synthetic polymers, and synthetic polymers made of natural monomers or modified with natural moieties. Various copolymers, polymer blends, or polymeric composite materials are also used. This section is not intended to be a complete and exhaustive review of all the polymers used in tissue engineering. Instead, some of the most frequently used polymers (macromolecules) iu tissue engineering are briefly reviewed. 

To summarize, the materials for tissue engineering are based on optimized composition of several types of natural/synthetic, biocompatible, and biodegradable components ... 

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