Materials Roles For Promoting Angiogenesis In Tissue Regeneration

Enabling angiogenesis is critical for the success of tissue repair therapies and the fate of tissueengineered constructs. Although many biochemical signaling molecules have been used, their biological functions in vivo are known to be limited, mainly due to their short lifetime and poor activity. Matrices (or engineered biomaterials), beyond the biochemical signals, play pivotal roles in stimulating angiogenic processes. Here we discuss the proangiogenic effort taken to repair and regenerate various tissues including skin, bone, muscle and nerve, focusing on the roles of engineered matrices. This includes the design of pore structure and physico-chemical properties (nanotopology, stiffness, chemistry and degradability), the tailoring of matrices for proper presentation of growth factors and their crosstalks with adhesion ligands, the controlled and sustained delivery of angiogenic molecules and metallic ions, and the engineering of cells and construction of prevascularized tissues. Collectively, the materials-driven strategies are envisaged