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Semin Plast Surg 2005; 19(3): 217-228
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-919717
Copyright © 2005 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Mechanical Aspects of Tissue Engineering

Michael Liebschner1 , Brandon Bucklen1 , Matthew Wettergreen1
  • 1Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas
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Publication History

Publication Date:
11 October 2005 (online)

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ABSTRACT

Tissue engineering describes an initiative whereby a deficit of tissue may be replaced with an engineered construct, typically thought to be some combination of a structural support element and a cellular element. There are several mechanical aspects that come into play during the design of such a construct. First, the way in which the mechanical behavior of a tissue is characterized varies depending on the tissue type. For example, one would not consider the ultimate strength of a non-load-bearing tissue such as adipose. However, in bone, where this property helps to describe a functional role, it is of paramount importance. In addition, the arrangement of material chosen to represent the design space has implications regarding the mechanical performance of the scaffold on several different size scales, from the cellular toward the macroscopic. The loading experienced by the implant must also be within the native tissue's mechanical usage window. Future knowledge gained on this subject will continue to characterize the mechanical requirements of various tissues, so that engineering solutions, such as computer-aided tissue engineering, may be utilized from this knowledge. In this article we describe some of these requirements and solutions using bone tissue as an example.

KEYWORDS

Computer-aided tissue engineering - mechanical - scaffold - bone - mechanobiology

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 Dr.
Michael LiebschnerPh.D. 

Department of Bioengineering, Rice University

6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005

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