Engineering Tissues to Heal Themselves: Bioinks and Tendon Scaffolds Show Promise for Helping the Body Recover from Musculoskeletal Injury

Sufferers of osteoarthritis are all too aware of the daily pain and impairment of swollen joints, of having to give up sports-and jobs-due to cartilage defects. What they may be less aware of is that three-dimensional (3-D) bioprinting and bioink technologies are being developed to revolutionize the existing (and often imperfect) treatments available to them. In the case of torn rotator cuff tendons, the group is refining an implant that would provide mechanical support for the damaged tendon (the traditional role of implants), while also supporting its ability to regenerate and strengthen so that it won't tear again. We add a patch.” This “patch” (the scaffold) is made from collagen-based materials and lies alongside the patient's tendon cells. True to its name, the implant is designed to be an organizing construct for the cells, similar to the way an architectural scaffold supports the construction of a new building. The engineered tissue scaffold promotes cell growth to maintain or bring in a blood supply that may have been ruptured when the injury occurred.