Biological modulation and repair using plant-derived bioactives: advancements in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Abstract

Background

The discipline of tissue engineering (TE) is experiencing significant advancements, characterized by both rapid progress and periods of slower development that sometimes fall short of earlier expectations. This review serves as a comprehensive inventory of achievements aimed at enhancing the innovation process within the field. Tissue engineering has embraced novel technologies and devised innovative methodologies for constructing tissue models, which are instrumental in studying and addressing various disease conditions.

Methods

A critical aspect of this endeavor is ensuring that scientific initiatives are closely aligned with the specific requirements of particular diseases, ultimately striving toward the creation of viable products in regenerative medicine.

Results

Natural biomaterials, including collagen, chitosan, alginate, silk fibroin, and fibrin, closely mimic the native extracellular matrix and provide intrinsic bioactive cues that promote cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, and lineage-specific differentiation. These polymers often present specific motifs that engage cell surface receptors such as integrins, activating signaling pathways central to tissue repair and remodeling, while their hydrophilic and porous architecture enhances nutrient transport and waste removal in three-dimensional constructs. Their degradation is primarily mediated by endogenous enzymes (e.g., collagenases, lysozymes), enabling controlled resorption synchronized with new tissue deposition and thereby reducing the risks of mechanical mismatch, fibrosis, and chronic inflammation. Compared with synthetic polymers such as polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, and polycaprolactone whose strength, architecture, and hydrolytic degradation rates can be precisely engineered but which often lack inherent bioactivity and may release inflammatory byproducts, natural scaffolds generally exhibit superior biocompatibility and support more effective functional integration in vitro and in vivo.

Conclusions

The core advantage of using natural biomaterials due to their ability to bridge structural support with biological functionality, and their integration into hybrid constructs with synthetic polymers represents a promising strategy to couple mechanical robustness with biomimetic signaling, accelerating translation toward clinically relevant regenerative therapies.