Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Bone Repair

Abstract

Some complex clinical conditions require regeneration of large bone sections, such as in the case of massive traumatic injury and atrophic nonunions. To date, regeneration of bone tissue has been an important focus for biological repair in the field of regenerative medicine. Bone tissue engineering - an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of engineering, biology and medicine, has emerged as one of the most promising approaches for developing biological bone substitutes. In the past half century, the potential use of MSCs in bone tissue engineering has been increasingly recognized because of its unique characteristics. Many studies have utilized bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) as seed cells for cell sheets and biomaterial scaffolds. In the past decade, many researchers have sought to exploit their potential as seed cells for diverse applications in regenerative medicine. The availability of robust clinical and scientific data supports the use of MSC in bone repair.