scholarly journals REGENERATIVE MEDICINE AND TISSUE ENGINEERING

Author(s):  
Ranieri Cancedda

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine constitute an emerging multidisciplinary field involving biology, medicine and engineering which is supposed to provide an outstanding contribution to improve the health and quality of life for million of people by restoring, maintaining or enhancing tissue and organ function. In regenerative medicine stem cells are playing a fundamental role: they are characterised by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types. The two broad types of mammalian stem cells are embryonic stem cells that are found in blastocysts, and adult stem cells that are found in adult tissues. In the last few years, the use of stem cells has been proposed for tissue engineering. In conjunction with regenerative medicine it represents a new area of research aimed to restore tissues and organs which have been damaged by traumas, tumors, infective or degenerated pathologies. In the present paper, starting from the outstanding improvement of the basic knowledge recently obtained, the perspectives in this field are illustrated considering also the involved ethical issues and particular attention is paid to the financial and organizational problems which stay at the basis of the industrial development of such technologies.

2007 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 197-205
Author(s):  
F. Pinto ◽  
A. Calarco ◽  
A. Brescia ◽  
E. Sacco ◽  
A. D'addessi ◽  
...  

Purpose Congenital abnormalities and acquired disorders can lead to organ damage and loss. Nowadays, transplantation represents the only effective treatment option. However, there is a marked decrease in the number of organ donors, which is even yearly worsening due to the population aging. The regenerative medicine represents a realistic option that allows to restore and maintain the normal functions of tissues and organs. This article reviews the principles of regenerative medicine and the recent advances with regard to its application to the genitourinary tract. Recent findings The field of regenerative medicine involves different areas of technology, such as tissue engineering, stem cells and cloning. Tissue engineering involves the field of cell transplantation, materials science and engineering in order to create functional replacement tissues. Stem cells and cloning permit the extraction of pluripotent, embryonic stem cells offering a potentially limitless source of cells for tissue engineering applications. Most current strategies for tissue engineering depend upon a sample of autologous cells from the patient's diseased organ. Biopsies from patients with extensive end-stage organ failure, however, may not yield enough normal cells. In these situations, stem cells are envisaged as being an alternative source. Stem cells can be derived from discarded human embryos (human embryonic stem cells), from fetal tissue or from adult sources (bone marrow, fat, skin). Therapeutic cloning offers a potentially limitless source of cells for tissue engineering applications. Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering scientists have increasingly applied the principles of cell transplantation, materials science and bioengineering to construct biological substitutes that will restore and maintain normal function in urological diseased and injured tissues such as kidney, ureter, bladder, urethra and penis. Conclusions Regenerative medicine offers several applications in acquired and congenital genitourinary diseases. Tissue engineering, stem cells and, mostly, cloning have been applied in experimental studies with excellent results. Few preliminary human applications have been developed with promising results.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-82
Author(s):  
Jordan Greenberg ◽  
Veronica Fortino ◽  
Daniel Pelaez ◽  
Herman S. Cheung

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Berebichez-Fridman ◽  
Pablo R. Montero-Olvera

First discovered by Friedenstein in 1976, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are adult stem cells found throughout the body that share a fixed set of characteristics. Discovered initially in the bone marrow, this cell source is considered the gold standard for clinical research, although various other sources—including adipose tissue, dental pulp, mobilised peripheral blood and birth-derived tissues—have since been identified. Although similar, MSCs derived from different sources possess distinct characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, including their differentiation potential and proliferation capacity, which influence their applicability. Hence, they may be used for specific clinical applications in the fields of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. This review article summarises current knowledge regarding the various sources, characteristics and therapeutic applications of MSCs.Keywords: Mesenchymal Stem Cells; Adult Stem Cells; Regenerative Medicine; Cell Differentiation; Tissue Engineering.


2009 ◽  
Vol 390 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Komal Loya ◽  
Reto Eggenschwiler ◽  
Kinarm Ko ◽  
Malte Sgodda ◽  
Francoise André ◽  
...  

Abstract In regenerative medicine pluripotent stem cells are considered to be a valuable self-renewing source for therapeutic cell transplantations, given that a functional organ-specific phenotype can be acquired by in vitro differentiation protocols. Furthermore, derivatives of pluripotent stem cells that mimic fetal progenitor stages could serve as an important tool to analyze organ development with in vitro approaches. Because of ethical issues regarding the generation of human embryonic stem (ES) cells, other sources for pluripotent stem cells are intensively studied. Like in less developed vertebrates, pluripotent stem cells can be generated from the female germline even in mammals, via parthenogenetic activation of oocytes. Recently, testis-derived pluripotent stem cells were derived from the male germline. Therefore, we compared two different hepatic differentiation approaches and analyzed the generation of definitive endoderm progenitor cells and their further maturation into a hepatic phenotype using murine parthenogenetic ES cells, germline-derived pluripotent stem cells, and ES cells. Applying quantitative RT-PCR, both germline-derived pluripotent cell lines show similar differentiation capabilities as normal murine ES cells and can be considered an alternative source for pluripotent stem cells in regenerative medicine.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Strong ◽  
Jeffrey M. Gimble ◽  
Bruce A. Bunnell

Adipose-derived stromal/stem cells (ASCs) are adult stem cells that have the potential to differentiate into mesenchymal lineage cells. The abundance of ASCs in adipose tissue and easy accessibility with relatively little donor site morbidity make them attractive candidate cells for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the underlying inflammatory process that occurs during ASC differentiation into adipocytes and osteoblast has not been extensively investigated. ASCs cultured in osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation medium were characterized by oil red o staining and alizarin red staining, respectively. ASCs undergoing osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation were isolated on days 7, 14, and 21 and assessed by qRT-PCR for the expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. ASCs undergoing osteogenic differentiation expressed a distinct panel of cytokines that differed from the cytokine profile of ASCs undergoing adipogenic differentiation at each of the time points analyzed. Mapping the cytokine expression profile during ASC differentiation will provide insight into the role of inflammation in this process and identify potential targets that may aid in enhancing osteogenic or adipogenic differentiation for the purposes of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mukta Agrawal ◽  
Amit Alexander ◽  
Junaid Khan ◽  
Tapan K. Giri ◽  
Sabahuddin Siddique ◽  
...  

Stem cells are the specialized cell population with unique self-renewal ability and act as the precursor of all the body cells. Broadly, stem cells are of two types one is embryonic stem cells while the other is adult or somatic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are the cells of zygote of the blastocyst which give rise to all kind of body cells including embryonic cells, and it can reconstruct a complete organism. While the adult stem cells have limited differentiation ability in comparison with embryonic stem cells and it proliferates into some specific kind of cells. This unique ability of the stem cell makes it a compelling biomedical and therapeutic tool. Stem cells primarily serve as regenerative medicine for particular tissue regeneration or the whole organ regeneration in any physical injury or disease condition (like diabetes, cancer, periodontal disorder, etc.), tissue grafting and plastic surgery, etc. Along with this, it is also used in various preclinical and clinical investigations, biomedical engineering and as a potential diagnostic tool (such as the development of biomarkers) for non-invasive diagnosis of severe disorders. In this review article, we have summarized the application of stem cell as regenerative medicine and in the treatment of various chronic diseases.


10.5772/54366 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsz Kin ◽  
Daniel Pelaez ◽  
Veronica R. ◽  
Jordan Greenberg ◽  
Herman S.

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