Role of Biomechanics in Functional Tissue Engineering
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Role of Biomechanics in Functional Tissue Engineering Kai-Nan An, Ph.D. Biomechanics Laboratory, Division of Orthopedic Research Mayo Clinic College of Medicine 200 First Street SW Rochester, MN 55905, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Functional tissue engineering establishes functional criteria for design and manufacture of the scaffold matrix for repair and replacement. It also provides useful and strategic information in mechanical stimulation of the cells seeded in the matrix before and after surgical placement to enhance the success of tissue engineering. Biomechanics plays an important role in accomplishing these requirements by assessing the in vivo environment and the material properties. INTRODUCTION Tissue engineering (using implanted cells in the scaffolds with a stimulator to replace or repair the damaged tissue) has made significant advances over the last decade. However, major challenges remain in repairing or replacing tissue that serves a predominantly biomechanical function. A new concept of “Functional Tissue Engineering” has been generated and adopted [1] to increase awareness among tissue engineers about the importance of restoring “function” in engineering tissue constructs; to identify the critical structural and mechanical requirements needed for each tissue engineered construct; and to encourage tissue engineers to incorporate these functional criteria in the design, manufacturing, and optimization of tissue-engineered constructs. From a biomechanical point of view, there are two broad aspects that must be addressed; the loading environment in vivo encountered by the native and the repaired/replaced tissue, and the material properties of the native and replaced tissue. Presented herein are the technologies available for assessing each of these two aspects, and also how the scientific and clinical significance of the information obtained will be addressed using examples in musculoskeletal systems. IN VIVO LOADING ENVIRONMENT The tissue and organs in the body experience complicated loading when subjected to normal physiological activities or pathological conditions. Numerous analytical and experimental technologies have been developed for assessing such loading and deformation. In general, experimental assessment of such a loading environment was not quite feasible, and therefore, analytical approaches were commonly considered. Numerous mathematical models have been developed for examining forces in bones, soft tissues and the joints, which have provided valuable insight into internal loading conditions. These models were established based on the geometrical measurements representing the anatomic structures and governing equations reflecting the physiological responses of the biological tissues [2,3]. In addition,
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kinematic and kinetic data needed to be collected experimentally and analyzed through the inverse dynamic problem. The solutions for muscle and joint force distribution were achieved using optimization methods. With the gross loading information available, the stress distribution in
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