Tissue Engineering for Regeneration and Replacement of the Intervertebral Disc

The outcome of the complex process of bone regeneration is the restoration of form and function, ideally, enduring, to a bone insufficiency. This chapter attempts to answer the question of how to harness the intrinsic regenerative capacity of bone? The approach to bone regeneration for this chapter is to highlight bone regeneration by exploiting contemporary, albeit pedestrian approaches of autografts, allografts and xenografts. First, the authors will define these modalities and emphasize what is good about them and what is lacking. Consensus definitions of the biological and biomechanical properties of regeneration, stating specific performance parameters that define the temporal road map for the regenerative cascade will be offered. A fracture healing model as a prototype for the regenerative process will be exploited. Key directional concepts for the rational design and development of a regenerative therapy will be introduced. These concepts will include the osteogenic biohemodynamic cascade and for bone regenerative therapies, the importance of a 4D environmental blastema matrix where embryogenesis is recapitulated. Finally, stringent performance criteria will be offered with objective data as a framework for the rational design and fielding of a master tool kit for bone regenerative therapeutics.