Structure-function relations in elastic tissues: lessons for tissue engineering

组织工程和再生医学的快速发展领域正在努力指导捕获天然组织的机械功能的组织替代物的生长和发展。一个特别的挑战是承重弹性组织的复制，它必须以最小的能量损失拉伸和回弹。组织工程的主要障碍是无法生长重要的结构弹性纤维，这些纤维是这些组织中的主要橡胶成分。这项研究采用了一种全新的跨学科方法来解决这个问题，使用材料科学和工程的工具来研究天然组织中弹性纤维的结构和功能发展。我们相信，组织工程设计的最佳经验教训将来自于了解发育中的胎儿组织的复杂结构-功能关系，以及这些组织如何适应机械负荷条件的变化。

The rapidly growing fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are striving to direct the growth and development of tissue replacements that capture the mechanical function of native tissues. A particular challenge is the reproduction of load-bearing elastic tissues which must stretch and recoil with minimal energy loss. The major stumbling block in tissue engineering has been the inability to grow the important structural elastic fibers that are the main rubbery component in these tissues. The proposed research takes a completely novel and interdisciplinary approach to this problem by using tools from materials science and engineering to investigate the structural and functional development of elastic fibers in natural tissues. Our belief is that the best lessons for tissue engineering design will come from understanding the complex structural-functional relationships of developing fetal tissues and how these tissue adapt to alterations in their mechanical loading conditions.