Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Composite scaffolds prepared by different biomaterials have their own characteristics in the repair of cartilage defects.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the tissue engineering characteristics and effect evaluation of composite scaffolds prepared by different biomaterials for repairing articular cartilage defects.
METHODS: The key words were “cartilage tissue engineering, biomaterials, engineered cartilage, composite scaffold” in Chinese and “tissue engineering, articular cartilage, scaffold material” in English. A computer based search of CNKI and PubMed databases was performed for relevant articles about composite scaffolds with cells for articular cartilage defects published from 1993-01 to 2010-11. Repetitive articles or Meta analysis were excluded.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Composite scaffolds are commonly used in cartilage tissue engineering, which are degradable scaffolds with better biocompatibility, toughness, porosity and mechanical strength than single scaffolds. Composite scaffolds are prepared not only by the same type of biomaterials but also by different kinds of biomaterials, which can be divided into natural scaffolds, artificial scaffolds, natural and artificial scaffolds. Complementary properties of biomaterials based on composite scaffolds meet the requirement of the ideal biomaterial scaffold to some extent. Nowadays, there are still some problems to be solved, such as compound ratio of different biomaterials and composite process.