Progress on materials and scaffold fabrications applied to esophageal tissue engineering

Effects of adding resorbable chitosan microspheres to calcium phosphate cements for bone regeneration

“…These properties are favorable for attachment, proliferation and differentiation of the osteoblasts or osteoprogenitor cells. In addition effective osteoconductivity and osteoinductivity provide an interconnected porous network that facilitates cellular infiltration and nutrient and waste transport [1]. CPCs have good biocompatibility, are self-setting and possess osteoconduction properties [2][3][4][5].…”

Esophageal reconstruction: Combined application of muscle tissue flap and inner chitosan tube stent in rabbits

“…However, these prosthetic materials cause foreign body reaction and therefore, replacement by artificial materials has not been proven to be clinically useful because of their absence of biocompatibility, which leads to chronic infection, anastomotic leakage, migration, and stenosis [9]. Allograft or autograft using various kinds of tissue, such as pleura, pericardium, skin [12], muscle fascia, jejunum or colon have also been proven to be unsuccessful (1). Recent efforts in the field of tissue engineering have not yet provided reliable results [13].…”

“…Esophageal reconstruction technology is of great significance to esophageal surgery. Esophageal substitution is a hot research topic [1,2], and has been studied for about seventy years but with less progress. There are two kinds of substitutions in esophageal surgery, i.e., self tissue and artificial substitutes.…”

Difficult esophageal atresia: Trick and treat

“…However, some key problems like stricture requiring dilation, little or no muscle regeneration, vascularization, and innervation in the implants need to be addressed before engineered esophagus can be a viable esophageal conduit for surgical replacement in the human being. 91 Totonelli et al 92 recently summarized that acellular scaffolds can be either transplanted with the aim of being repopulated by host cells or seeded prior to transplantation. When acellular scaffolds are used as a patch or to replace a short tubular defect, they allow epithelial and partial muscular migration, whereas when employed for long tubular defects, the results are poor, leading to an increased rate of stenosis and mortality.…”