ABSTRACT
Considerable progress has been made in medicine and healthcare over the past century resulting in an increase in life expectancy in many countries, generating an aging population. is has led to a sharp increase in age-related health problems. Chronic degenerative diseases, such as myocardial infarction, stroke, arthritis, and atherosclerosis, are associated with tissue degeneration and can result in organ dysfunction. Over 8 million surgical procedures are performed annually to treat tissue or organ failure in the United States alone, with over 80,000 still awaiting transplantation (Langer and Vacanti, 1993). e number of patients awaiting organs always exceeds that of donors with the average waiting time being 5 years in the United States, resulting in 40% of patients dying before a donor is found (UNOS, 2002). erefore, in order to overcome these limitations, the concept of tissue engineering has emerged.
