Tendon tissue engineering using scaffold enhancing strategies

Tendon traumas or diseases are prevalent and debilitating lesions that affect the quality of life among populations worldwide. As a novel solution, tendon tissue engineering aims to address these lesions by integrating engineered, living substitutes with their native counterparts in vivo, thereby restoring the defective functions in situ. For such a purpose, competent scaffolding materials are essential. To date, three major categories of scaffolding materials have been employed: polyesters, polysaccharides, and collagen derivatives. Furthermore, with these materials as a base, a variety of specialized methodologies have been developed or adopted to enhance neo-tendogenesis. These strategies include cellular hybridization, interfacing improvement, and physical stimulation. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.