Micro-pattern technique and its application in tissue engineering

BACKGROUND: With the constant innovation and development of micro-pattern technology, it has also been applied widely in cell biology, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, which provides new impetus for the construction of artificial tissues in vitro. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the classification, characteristics and application of micro-pattern technique in tissue engineering. METHODS: The authors performed a data retrieval of PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI to search the articles addressing micro-pattern technique and its application in tissue engineering published from 2001 to 2017, and reviewed the literatures systematically. The keywords were “micro-pattern technique, tissue engineering” in English and Chinese, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Using the micro-pattern technique, patterned cell alignment is formed to control the shape of stem cells, and regulate stem cell fusion and differentiation. Moreover, artificial tissue engineering products have been developed and used as tissue substitutes for bone tissue engineering, muscle tissue engineering, vascular tissue engineering, nerve tissue engineering and liver tissue engineering. However, cell biology mechanisms and internal mechanisms underlying the use of micro-pattern technique in the artificial tissue construction need to be further explored and elucidated. For example, future investigations are warranted on how to construct artificial muscle tissue using the micro-pattern technique, how to purify Schwann cells, as well as the development and innovation of micro-pattern technique in vascular and liver tissue engineering research.