Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Nano-hydroxyapatite is widely used in bone tissue engineering as it has the size-related properties with natural nano-hydroxyapatite crystal, as well as its good biocompatibility and conductibility.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics of nanostructure scaffolds, and to investigate the biomimetic multilayered nanostructure scaffolds construction and its new research progress in vivo.
METHODS: The PubMed database (Http://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/PubMed) and CNKI database (www.cnki.net/index.htm) were retrieved for articles from 1979 to 2011 by computer. The English key words were “cartilage, nano” and “cartilage, nanofiber or nanofibrous”, and the Chinese key words were “cartilage, nano, scaffold”. A total of 50 articles were included which related to nanostructure scaffolds, cartilage regeneration and cartilage tissue engineering, and for articles in the same field, those published recently or in authorized journals were selected.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Cartilage tissue engineering provided the possible regeneration of damaged cartilage which has limited self-repair abilities. Nanostructure scaffolds are superior to others for their excellent functions and play an important role in repairing the cartilage tissue. At present, the biomimetic multilayered designing of nano-scaffolds, developing in its functions, and the great need of clinical studies have become the most significant factors of tissue engineering.