Tissue engineering and its application in veterinary medicine: A review

Tissue engineering is an amalgam of principles and techniques of various disciplines which aims at assembling biological substitutes to aid either in growth of new tissues or to restore the structure and function of affected tissue. It involves construction of a three dimensional matrix which mimics the natural tissue in all aspects viz, functionally, structurally and mechanically by use of four key materials (i.e, scaffold, growth factor, extracellular matrix and cells). Although various types of cells are used in tissue engineering but autologous cells (stem cells) are preferred the most. Tissue engineering is an expanding field where in efforts are being made to include all tissue and organs of humans and animal body. The added advantage of tissue engineering is that it probably has the ability to correct various incurable defects as well as replacement of any damaged structure. Therefore it can be considered as a viable therapeutic option for replacement and regeneration of tissue. Although, the results are far more promising but it demands a lot of effort in future to be a successful tool in animal medicine