Sustained local application of epidermal growth factor to accelerate reepithelialization of tracheal grafts

Tissue Engineering in Stomatology: A Review of Potential Approaches for Oral Disease Treatments

Tissue engineering is an emerging discipline that combines engineering and life sciences. It can construct functional biological structures in vivo or in vitro to replace native tissues or organs and minimize serious shortages of donor organs during tissue and organ reconstruction or transplantation. Organ transplantation has achieved success by using the tissue-engineered heart, liver, kidney, and other artificial organs, and the emergence of tissue-engineered bone also provides a new approach for the healing of human bone defects. In recent years, tissue engineering technology has gradually become an important technical method for dentistry research, and its application in stomatology-related research has also obtained impressive achievements. The purpose of this review is to summarize the research advances of tissue engineering and its application in stomatology. These aspects include tooth, periodontal, dental implant, cleft palate, oral and maxillofacial skin or mucosa, and oral and maxillofacial bone tissue engineering. In addition, this article also summarizes the commonly used cells, scaffolds, and growth factors in stomatology and discusses the limitations of tissue engineering in stomatology from the perspective of cells, scaffolds, and clinical applications.

Progress of gelatin-based microspheres (GMSs) as delivery vehicles of drug and cell

Gelatin has various attractive features as biomedical materials, for instance, biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, biodegradability, and ease of manipulation. In recent years, various gelatin-based microspheres (GMSs) have been fabricated with innovative technologies to serve as sustained delivery vehicles of drugs and genetic materials as well as beneficial bacteria. Moreover, GMSs have exhibited promising potentials to act as both cell carriers and 3D scaffold components in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, which not only exhibit excellent injectability but also could be integrated into a macroscale construct with the laden cells. Herein, we aim to thoroughly summarize the recent progress in the preparations and biomedical applications of GMSs and then to point out the research direction in future. First, various methods for the fabrication of GMSs will be described. Second, the recent use of GMSs in tumor embolization and in the delivery of cells, drugs, and genetic material as well as bacteria will be presented. Finally, several key factors that may enhance the improvement of GMSs were suggested as delivery vehicles.