Current Progress in Tendon and Ligament Tissue Engineering

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Background Tendon and ligament injuries accounted for 30% of all musculoskeletal consultations with 4 million new incidences worldwide each year and thus imposed a significant burden to the society and the economy. Damaged tendon and ligament can severely affect the normal body movement and might lead to many complications if not treated promptly and adequately. Current conventional treatment through surgical repair and tissue graft are ineffective with a high rate of recurrence. Methods In this review, we first discussed the anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology of tendon and ligament injuries and its current treatment. Secondly, we explored the current role of tendon and ligament tissue engineering, describing its recent advances. After that, we also described stem cell and cell secreted product approaches in tendon and ligament injuries. Lastly, we examined the role of the bioreactor and mechanical loading in in vitro maturation of engineered tendon and ligament. Results Tissue engineering offers various alternative ways of treatment from biological tissue constructs to stem cell therapy and cell secreted products. Bioreactor with mechanical stimulation is instrumental in preparing mature engineered tendon and ligament substitutes in vitro. Conclusions Tissue engineering showed great promise in replacing the damaged tendon and ligament. However, more study is needed to dev

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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