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

快速发展的组织工程和再生医学领域正在努力指导组织替代物的生长和发展，以捕捉天然组织的机械功能。一个特别的挑战是复制承重的弹性组织，这些组织必须以最小的能量损失拉伸和回缩。组织工程的主要绊脚石是无法生长重要的结构弹性纤维，而这些纤维是这些组织中主要的橡胶成分。这项拟议的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学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，组织工程设计的最好经验将来自于理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其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.