Essay On Tissue Engineering

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Tissue engineering may best be described as the utilisation of a combination of cells, engineering materials, and suitable biochemical factors which have the ability to improve or replace biological functions of the cells. Tissue engineering covers a wide variety of applications, in practice the best represented use of tissue engineering is in the repair or replacement of structural tissues such as bone, cartilage and blood vessels. The aim of tissue engineering is to produce functional constructs that replace, help maintain, or improve damaged tissues or whole organs. Artificial skin and cartilage are examples of engineered tissues which have been approved by the FDA. Cells are known to be the basic building blocks of tissue and tissues are the most basic unit of function in the body.…show more content…
Organ printing can be defined as computer aided, jet based 3D tissue engineering of living functioning human organs. Organ printing can be divided into 3 steps, pre-processing, processing and post processing. (Mironov et al 2004) Step 1 develops the blueprint of the organ through computer aided design (CAD). This provides the exact location of all the cells. Step 2 involves the actual printing of the organ through devices designed specially to deposit the biomaterial, the cells are printed layer by layer using a bioprinter. The precise placement of cells is directed by the blue print resulting in specific cell patterns or constructs. Step 3, the printed organ should develop in an environment similar to its own native one. A bioreactor is used to maintain an environment in which the organ will survive and grow. Ideally the printed tissue should assemble quickly, as well as mature and differentiate into the desired organ. The growth of the organ should then be monitored non-invasively to allow successful development. (Mironov et al
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