Smart Hydrogels in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.

The field of regenerative medicine has tremendous potential for improved treatment outcomes and has been stimulated by advances made in bioengineering over the last few decades. The strategies of engineering tissues and assembling functional constructs that are capable of restoring, retaining, and revitalizing lost tissues and organs have impacted the whole spectrum of medicine and health care. Techniques to combine biomimetic materials, cells, and bioactive molecules play a decisive role in promoting the regeneration of damaged tissues or as therapeutic systems. Hydrogels have been used as one of the most common tissue engineering scaffolds over the past two decades due to their ability to maintain a distinct 3D structure, to provide mechanical support for the cells in the engineered tissues, and to simulate the native extracellular matrix. The high water content of hydrogels can provide an ideal environment for cell survival, and structure which mimics the native tissues. Hydrogel systems have been serving as a supportive matrix for cell immobilization and growth factor delivery. This review outlines a brief description of the properties, structure, synthesis and fabrication methods, applications, and future perspectives of smart hydrogels in tissue engineering.

The Applications of 3D Printing for Craniofacial Tissue Engineering.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an emerging technology in the field of dentistry. It uses a layer-by-layer manufacturing technique to create scaffolds that can be used for dental tissue engineering applications. While several 3D printing methodologies exist, such as selective laser sintering or fused deposition modeling, this paper will review the applications of 3D printing for craniofacial tissue engineering; in particular for the periodontal complex, dental pulp, alveolar bone, and cartilage. For the periodontal complex, a 3D printed scaffold was attempted to treat a periodontal defect; for dental pulp, hydrogels were created that can support an odontoblastic cell line; for bone and cartilage, a polycaprolactone scaffold with microspheres induced the formation of multiphase fibrocartilaginous tissues. While the current research highlights the development and potential of 3D printing, more research is required to fully understand this technology and for its incorporation into the dental field.