Starch-Based Microparticles as a Novel Strategy for Tissue Engineering Applications

Current tissue engineering strategies involve the use of scaffold materials with properties specific for the target tissue. When the tissue being treated is bone, properties such as bone bonding behaviour and excellent biological performance are very desirable. Many strategies involve the creation in vitro of a suitable hybrid construct (i.e., comprising a scaffold material and cells). These scaffolds are then inserted into the defect site, thus achieving faster integration and hence, repair. Herein, we describe the synthesis and characterization of starch-based microparticles for bone tissue engineering. This study describes the properties of two types of starch-based microparticles: their bioactivity in vitro (when processed with Bioactive Glass 45S5), the good biological performance and also the ability to be used as controlled release vehicles of bioactive molecules, such as steroids and growth factors.