SCAFFOLDS: A NOVEL TOOL FOR BONE TISSUE ENGINEERING

As life expectancy increases, malfunction or loss of tissue caused by injury or disease leads to reduced quality of life in many patients at significant socioeconomic cost. Bone disorders are of significant concern due to the increase in the median age of our population. Traditionally, bone grafts have been used to restore damaged bone. Even though major progress has been made in the field of bone tissue engineering, present therapies, such as bone grafts still have limitations. Current research on biodegradable polymers is emerging, combining these structures with osteogenic cells, as an alternative to autologous bone grafts. Different types of biodegradable materials have been proposed for the preparation of three-dimensional porous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Among them, natural polymers are one of the most attractive options, mainly due to their similarities with the extracellular matrix, chemical versatility, good biological performance, and inherent cellular interactions. Also, synthetic biomaterials are now being used as bone graft substitutes. These biomaterials were initially selected for structural restoration based on their biomechanical properties. Later scaffolds were engineered to be bioactive or bioresorbable to enhance tissue growth. Now scaffolds are designed to induce bone formation and vascularization. These scaffolds are often porous, biodegradable materials that harbor different growth factors, drugs, genes or stem cells. In this review, we highlight recent advances in bone scaffolds and discuss aspects that still need to be improved.