Fabrication, surface modification and growth factor encapsulation of polymeric microspheres as scaffold for liver tissue regeneration

Abstract

Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional surgical procedures in regenerating or repairing damaged organs. One of the major strategies of tissue engineering is to culture isolated cells on a three-dimensional scaffold, which can be developed into a functional tissue with proper stimulation. In this study, the viability of using a novel microsphere scaffolding system to regenerate liver tissue was investigated. Liver cells grown on microsphere scaffold showed higher proliferation rate as well as improved hepatic functions compared to two-dimensional controls. The microsphere scaffold can be easily assembled into various shapes suitable for surgical implantation. It also offers controllable surface modification, growth factor encapsulation properties as well as in vitro vascularization, which show great promise for the production of a complete liver tissue engineering system to solve the shortage of liver donors.