Bioactive molecule and/or cell encapsulation for controlled delivery in bone or cartilage tissue engineering

Abstract The delivery of biomolecules/cells to the targeted site with spatiotemporal regulation is of particular interest in biomedical applications. The clinical outcomes rely on localized delivery, which in turn improves the therapeutic efficiency. The encapsulation systems demonstrate more advantages other than localized controlled delivery, such as immunoprotective, prolonged life span of the molecule, etc. Bioactive molecules/cells are encapsulated in a variety of materials in different geometries using numerous methodologies. The clinical challenges pertaining to the use of encapsulated systems have also been well investigated. In particular, encapsulation methods, cell/bioactive molecules encapsulation for tissue engineering (TE) and regenerative medicine have widely been reported and reviewed. This chapter briefly summarized the concept of controlled delivery, encapsulation systems, the essential requirements for encapsulation, the design aspect of hydrogels for encapsulation, and cells/bioactive molecules encapsulated for bone and cartilage TE. The research studies on encapsulated systems for bone and cartilage engineering have been considered in constructing this chapter. It is believed that this chapter would give a clear idea over the importance of bioactive molecules/cell encapsulation systems for bone and cartilage regeneration.