Nanomaterial scaffolds to regenerate musculoskeletal tissue: signals from within for neovessel formation

• Published in: Drug discovery today 2017-09, Vol.22 (9), p.1385-1391
• Main Authors: Wang, Zuyong, Wen, Feng, Lim, Poon Nian, Zhang, Qinyuan, Konishi, Toshiisa, Wang, Dong, Teoh, Swee Hin, Thian, Eng San
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Bone Regeneration; Humans; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Nanostructures; Neovascularization, Physiologic; Tissue Scaffolds
• ISSN: 1359-6446; 1878-5832
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2017.03.010

•Musculoskeletal tissue engineering is promising for therapeutic regeneration.•Scalable engineering of musculoskeletal tissues needs adequate neovascularization.•Pro-angiogenic nanomaterials enable the development of vascularizable scaffolds.•Current vascularizable scaffolds show promising preclinical applications. Current treatments for musculoskeletal disease and injury are restricted with the usage of autografts and allografts. Tissue engineering that applies the principles of biology and engineering to develop functional substitutes has potential promise of therapeutic regeneration for musculoskeletal tissues. However, engineering sizable tissues needs a vascular network to supply cells with nutrients, oxygen and signals after implantation. For this purpose, recent developments on therapeutic nanomaterials have been explored in delivering different vessel-inductive growth factors, small biomolecules and ions for scalable engineering into vascularizable scaffolds. Here, we provide an overview on the current efforts, and propose future perspectives for precise regulation on vascularization processes and musculoskeletal tissue functionality.