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Abstract
Musculoskeletal tissue, bone and cartilage are under extensive investigation in tissue
engineering research. A number of biodegradable and bioresorbable materials, as well
as scaffold designs, have been experimentally and/or clinically studied. Ideally,
a scaffold should have the following characteristics: (i) three-dimensional and highly
porous with an interconnected pore network for cell growth and flow transport of nutrients
and metabolic waste; (ii) biocompatible and bioresorbable with a controllable degradation
and resorption rate to match cell/tissue growth in vitro and/or in vivo; (iii) suitable
surface chemistry for cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation and (iv)
mechanical properties to match those of the tissues at the site of implantation. This
paper reviews research on the tissue engineering of bone and cartilage from the polymeric
scaffold point of view.