Tissue engineering of bone: search for a better scaffold

Large bone defects still represent a major problem in orthopedics. Traditional bone-repair treatments can be divided into two groups: the bone transport (Ilizarov technology) and the graft transplant (autologous or allogeneic bone grafts). Thus far, none of these strategies have proven to be always resolving. As an alternative, a tissue engineering approach has been proposed where osteogenic cells, bioceramic scaffolds, growth factors and physical forces concur to the bone defect repair. Different sources of osteoprogenitor cells have been suggested, bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) being in most cases the first choice.