Recent Progress in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) has a rapid progress in the past decades. Cells and scaffolds are two crucial factors in TERM and they are a main focus in studies as well. In terms of cells, stem cells have a wide application because of their potential ability to proliferate and differentiate into all kinds of tissues. Scaffolds provide a three-dimensional structure that allowing cell differentiation and tissue formation. Here, the current article reviews the recent representative reports and summarizes the cells introduced in TERM, especially the stem cells. The strengths and weaknesses of various types of cells are briefly discussed. Further, this review presents the scaffolds for a variety of tissues such as bone, lung, kidney, bladder, heart, skin, etc., and the various methods for preparation of scaffolds, including fiber bonding, phase separating/freeze drying, solvent casting/particulate leaching, gas foaming, rapid prototyping manufacturing and electrospinning, as well as their the advantages and disadvantages are followed. On basis of this overview, the perspectives and challenges of TREM are discussed.