CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

After a trauma, tissue repair rapidly occurs to restore the integrity of tissues or organs.Tissue repair leads to the formation of scars as tissue regeneration is impossible except during the fetal life. The quality of the scar differs from native tissue. In some cases, tissue repair is impossible because the area of damaged tissue is too large or the wound healing process is impaired. The utilization of biomaterials is required in these cases to restore body functions. The global market for biomaterials was evaluated in 2012 at 44 billons dollars and is expected to grow by 15% in 2017. Biomaterials are categorized into metals, ceramics, synthetic polymers, and natural polymers. The biomaterials applications can be segmented into five main fields of applications: cardiovascular, orthopedic, dental,skin wound healing and nerve regeneration. Biomaterials aim to replace the function of tissues or organs for a period of time. Prostheseshave been first developed to restore the body functionality of tissues. They are implanted into the human body to be as inert as possible. More recently, a sub-field of biomaterials has emerged: tissue engineering. Unlike prostheses, tissue engineered devices do not possess the best physical properties but have all biological signals inside their structure to promote tissue repair and the formation of a neo tissue. They often associate a scaffold with cells and/or biomolecules to favor wound healing.