Biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering through plastic compression

组织工程，其目的是恢复功能，通过交付的活元素和整合在活组织，在过去的十年中，出现作为一个可行的替代方法，在组织修复。 传统上，这依赖于培养细胞在支架周围制造新组织的能力。这通过在三维（3D）培养物如组织生物反应器中将细胞外基质（例如胶原蛋白）沉积到可降解的合成材料上或重塑天然基质来进行。到目前为止，由于对细胞如何工作的理解有限，这个过程是缓慢和不可预测的。然而，已知的是，最初的支架组成和结构对细胞行为至关重要。

Tissue engineering, with its aim of restoring function through delivery of living elements and integration in the living tissues has, in the last decade, emerged as a viable alternative method in the repair of tissues. Conventionally, this has relied on the ability of cultured cells to fabricate new tissue around a scaffold. This is carried out by either the deposition of extracellular matrix (e.g. collagen) onto degradable synthetic materials, or the remodelling of native matrices, in three dimensional (3D) culture such as tissue bioreactors. This process has so far been slow and unpredictable due to a limited understanding of how cells work. What is known, however, is that the initial scaffold composition and structure is critical to cell behaviour.