Functionalized biomaterials - oxygen releasing scaffolds

The advancement in tissue engineering has reached a considerably high level with major achievements, especially in mimicking the nature in terms of morphology, structure, functionality and mechanical strength. Nonetheless, the current technology still fails to deliver the urgent need in producing construct of larger volume such as organs, which will be more effective in tackling chronic diseases related to organ failure. One of the main causes identified is due to the serious necrosis that occurs as a result of the deficient of oxygen due to its low dissolution and diffusion in thick tissue matrices. The rate of vascularization is far too low compared to the differentiation rate of the cells. In order to sustain the survival of cells before the establishment of blood vessel, an alternative supply of external oxygen to the cells will be of advantage. Current trend has seen to be moving towards this direction, and the external supply can be obtained from tissue scaffolds. This approach is made possible by functionalizing biomaterials with well controlled oxygen producing mechanism. This review concentrates on such efforts and discusses some of the insights that are related in developing functionalized biomaterial scaffolds with the intention to adequately supply oxygen for tissue engineering purpose.