The Self-Assembling Process of Articular Cartilage and Self-Organization in Tissue Engineering

Tissues engineered without a scaffold can exhibit generation of structure with or without exogenous forces. Following this, two distinct subsets within scaffoldless tissue engineering may be elucidated: self-organizing and self-assembling tissues. Significantly, both self-organization and the self-assembling process have resulted in the formation of robust tissues, as described below. However, there has been confusion, and, indeed, no definition in tissue engineering, concerning the terms “self-assembly” and “self-organization.” Therefore, drawing from the definitions of self-assembly used in other fields, this chapter will define self-organization and the selfassembling process in tissue engineering.