Recent advances and limitations of alginate and collagen applications in liver, pancreatic, urethral, and bladder tissue engineering

The regeneration or replacement of damaged cells, tissues, and whole organs to restore their functions is the goal of regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine aims to repair tissue damage caused by numerous diseases, including traumatic injury and tissue dysfunction, which has a limited ability to self-regenerate. Therefore, providing bioactive scaffolds composed of biomaterials with biocompatibility, bioavailability, and biodegradability are required to help the regeneration of damaged tissues. Among biomaterials, both natural and synthetic polymers have exhibited promising outcomes and preclinical and clinical limitations in the production of scaffolds. Natural polymers such as chitosan, hyaluronic acid, alginate, collagen, and cellulose have been employed plentifully owing to their low cytotoxicity in the human body. Among these biopolymers, alginate and collagen have received considerable attention owing to their desirable biocompatibility and bioavailability. However, low mechanical and tensile strength have been found for these types of polymeric scaffolds. The present mini-review focused on both the advances and limitations of the alginate and collagen applications in liver, pancreatic, urethral, and bladder tissue engineering recent investigations.

Keywords:

Self-regenerate , Preclinical limitations , tensile strength , Natural polymeric scaffolds