What Are Prospects And Prospects Of Tissue Engineering?

Comparative Analysis of How Prospects and Perspectives of Tissue Engineering Have Evolved Over the Years
The concept of engineering living beings is not new to us. Tales of mythical creatures and beasts have long been interwoven with our history and form an essential part of many cultures all over the world. However as a science, tissue engineering is thought to be quite young. It evolved as a concept and term in the late 1980s. And although some research was undertaken in that field, it was only after the publication of a review article in Science in 1993 that the term “Tissue engineering” gained widespread awareness. This article by Robert Langer and Joseph Vacanti is one of the pioneering literatures in the field and is credited with unifying
And as old problems have been overcome, new ones have arisen to take their place. One of the major ones is vascularization of the tissue. The difficulty in providing blood supply to the newly constructed tissue is a major obstacle. The endothelial cells need to be coaxed into building a vascular network that penetrates the engineered tissue. Though a lot of research has been done in this arena, the sizes of the vessels prove to be a hurdle that is yet to be overcome. This is true especially for highly vascularized tissues like the liver. There also remaining the question whether the new organ or tissue will be similar to the natural tissue functionally. E.g. the liver should detoxify the blood and also secrete bile as well as regulate nutrients. The skin should grow hair and allow for other transport mechanisms. These questions prove that a lot remains to be discovered especially about the mechanisms of growth factors and molecular signaling. There is no doubt however that the perspective with which the world views tissue engineering has changed a lot. The idea of growing living flesh out of nonliving materials and cells following engineering principles no longer seems like a fantasy. Artificial Skin and cartilage approved for use by FDA as off-the- shelf products have already helped thousands of patients. 50 million people in US alone have undergone some type of artificial organ therapy. Several tissue engineered products like bronchial tubes, cornea, bladder, blood vessels and valves are already undergoing clinical trials. Thus considering the exponential growth of this field, it would be safe to say that further research into this field will open up fresh avenues. Equipped with adequate knowledge of biology, eventually it may be possible to attain the goal of a fully vascularized organ that is identical to the natural one both functionally and