ABSTRACT
Tissue engineering strategies serve as reliable options to overcome the dire shortage and long waiting time for organ transplantation. Marine-derived biopolymers used in tissue engineering form a part of the growing number of materials being studied and applied as suitable regenerative therapeutic options for the treatment of bone defects and/or restoration of the damaged bone function. Alginate has been reported extensively in tissue engineering, cell transplantation, and cell encapsulation due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, mass transports, and ability to be injected into defect areas. Carrageenan is also a marine-derived polymer that has an expressive gelling property. Carrageenan has a strong resemblance with glycosaminoglycan, which is one of the main components of the extracellular matrix. In a study reported by Mihaila et al. (2014), chitosan-reinforced k-carrageenan produced a stable fiber owing to the presence of chitosan by controlling the swelling rate. The utilization of marine biomaterials will continue to model in the future of regenerative medicine especially in bone tissue engineering.
