Synthetic matrices for the tissue regeneration

Tissues diseases treatment by traditional medicine strategies is often impaired by the inability of restoring the normal function of scared tissues as confirmed by several problems concerning the optimal therapy of defects after trauma and degenerative pathologies which have not yet been solved. The most compatible sources of graft tissue are often offered by humans themselves: for example autologous bone graft provides all three key elements for generating bone tissue, respectively the osteogenic progenitor cells, osteoinductive growth factors and osteoconductive matrices. However, the autologous tissue employment is still subject to restrictions firstly due to limited quantity of donors. For these reasons, the challenge of last years in tissue regeneration consists in the development of biodegradable scaffolds based on natural and synthetic polymeric materials. However, the employment of biodegradable polymers even if highly biocompatible, is limited by their low mechanical response in connection with fast degradation kinetics. Instead, composite materials obtained by the matching of polymers and ceramic phases are preferable from the mechanical point of view offering a tremendous versatility as scaffold materials for the bone and meniscus regeneration. In particular, the accurate external and internal design of the scaffold on both macrometric and micrometric scale, provides a reliable environment for tissue formation assuring an optimal cell colonization and an adequate transport of small molecules for the nutrient supply and the functional signals delivery.