Bioreactors in tissue engineering: mimicking the microenvironment

One of the main challenges that have kept tissue-engineered constructs from being widely adopted to clinics is poor cell survival due to limited mass transfer of oxygen and nutrients in thick, clinically relevant sizes of constructs. Tissue engineering bioreactors have been developed to overcome this mass transfer problem, introducing convection as well as diffusion in three-dimensional culture systems. They also provide highly controlled microenvironments for viability, repeatability, and standardization. This microenvironment can mimic the physiological niche, so that functional tissue maturation can be achieved. In this chapter the properties of different types of bioreactors that are commonly used for tissue engineering (TE) applications are examined. This chapter summarizes the main types of bioreactors used for TE, focusing on their design parameters and comparing their main prominences for particular applications.