Advanced Biomaterials and Processing Methods for Liver Regeneration: State‐of‐the‐Art and Future Trends

Abstract

Liver diseases contribute markedly to the global burden of mortality and disease. The limited organ disposal for orthotopic liver transplantation results in a continuing need for alternative strategies. Over the past years, important progress has been made in the field of tissue engineering (TE). Many of the early trials to improve the development of an engineered tissue construct are based on seeding cells onto biomaterial scaffolds. Nowadays, several TE approaches have been developed and are applied to one vital organ: the liver. Essential elements must be considered in liver TE—cells and culturing systems, bioactive agents or growth factors (GF), and biomaterials and processing methods. The potential of hepatocytes, mesenchymal stem cells, and others as cell sources is demonstrated. They need engineered biomaterial‐based scaffolds with perfect biocompatibility and bioactivity to support cell proliferation and hepatic differentiation as well as allowing extracellular matrix deposition and vascularization. Moreover, they require a microenvironment provided using conventional or advanced processing technologies in order to supply oxygen, nutrients, and GF. Herein the biomaterials and the conventional and advanced processing technologies, including cell‐sheets process, 3D bioprinting, and microfluidic systems, as well as the future trends in these major fields are discussed.

SARS-CoV-2 and tissue damage: current insights and biomaterial-based therapeutic strategies

“…These scaffold revealed similar structures and possessed mechanical properties of native liver tissue, indicating that it can be used as a liver substitute when liver donation is not feasible. 143,144 Uygun et al used an antegrade perfusion method to develop the first de-cellularized whole-organ rodent liver and obtained a translucent acellular tissue within few days. 145 Successful decellularization of a human liver was performed using a novel retrograde, two-step, perfusion methodology.…”

Mesenchymal stem cells ameliorate lipid metabolism through reducing mitochondrial damage of hepatocytes in the treatment of post-hepatectomy liver failure

“…Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are widely studied in the fields of immunology and regenerative medicine because of their wide sources, easy access, immune regulatory role, and promotive effect on tissue regeneration 3 , 4 . Previous studies have shown that MSCs have an important role in immunoregulation and tissue repair by interacting with inflammatory cells 5 .…”

Supramolecular Biopolymers for Tissue Engineering

“…Also, these materials allow gas and mass transport, water retention, physical support, and physical cell aligning [32,33]. However, conventional polymers present a variety of disadvantages to novel technologies such as the use of organoids [34,35], whole-organ engineering [36,37], patient-specific tissue regeneration [38], and in situ therapeutics [39]. Specifically, conventional polymers are rarely stimuli-responsive, do not self-heal, do not degrade in a controlled manner, and are expected to trigger unwanted immune responses, unless thoroughly functionalized.…”