Strategic Approaches to Growth Factors Delivery for Regenerative Medicine

Organs transplantation or implantation of synthetic devices is the currently available and most used methods to treat loss of tissues and organs in humans. However, there is a continue demanding of new solutions and approaches for tissues failure since the definitive solution is far to be achieved. For this reason, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering are becoming of great interest as the alternative strategy to repair or regenerate damaged tissue. Among different regenerative strategies, the development of synthetic scaffolds able to induce tissue restoration has been widely explored. The main goal of this approach is to develop functionalized platforms releasing growth factors or bioactive molecules that can lead desired cell response in order to enhance and accelerated tissue healing. A plethora of materials natural, synthetic and hybrid have been exploited to develop an adequate system for the sustained and controlled release of regenerative signals for the specific application. Recently, available delivery systems have some drawbacks such as growth factors loss of bioactivity, limited control over administrated dose and non-targeted delivery. Thus, the field of drug delivery systems for tissue engineering is still investigating new approaches and with the support of materials science new smart solutions to overcome these limitations. This chapter discusses carrier-based growth factor delivery systems with a particular focus on materials engineering for bone and cartilage tissue regeneration.