Gold Nanoparticles For Tissue Engineering

Regenerative medicine is currently recognized as an emerging field of nano-medicine with promising opportunities to fully heal tissues damaged by disease, trauma or congenital issues. Within this field, tissue engineering aims at the combination of cells, new bio-materials, and biochemical factors to regenerate biological tissues. The societal impact of this research is significant due to the possibility of implanting natural, synthetic, or semi-synthetic tissues and organs that are fully functional from the start, or can grow into the required functionality. Recently advances of nanotechnology provided wide possibilities to fabricate nanostructured scaffolds that mimic the tissue-specific microenvironment. The unique properties of a variety of nanomaterials allow to prepare scaffolds with improved biochemical, mechanical, and electrical properties and capable also to cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation and to foster the cell growth. Within many types of nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles nowadays are widely used in biology and medicine due to the wide range of valuable chemical and physical properties. However, efficient application of gold nanoparticles for tissue engineering purposes is still at incipience stage. Here we review the current advances of application of gold nanoparticles for tissue engineering. We will summarize (1) properties of gold nanoparticles relevant to tissue engineering, (2) interaction of gold nanoparticles with cell and toxicity, (3) the current advances in tissue engineering, focusing on cardiac, bone, neural and skin tissue engineering, recognized as the most significant fields of regenerative medicine. In addition, other fields of tissue engineering, where gold nanoparticles have been also applied, are also highlighted. The major point of this review is to highlight the relevance of gold nanoparticles as co-factor, that impart to the scaffolds properties valuable for tissue engineering. According to the reviewed publications the main function of gold nanoparticles in tissue engineering is aimed on enhancing scaffolds properties and delivery efficiency. Moreover, the examples of direct impact of gold nanoparticles on cells differentiation are also provided.