Baar Keith
Division of Molecular Physiology, University of Dundee, MSI/WTB Dow Street, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK.
Exp Physiol. 2005 Nov;90(6):799-806. doi: 10.1113/expphysiol.2005.031377. Epub 2005 Aug 9.
Tissue engineering is a discipline of great promise. In some areas, such as the cornea, tissues engineered in the laboratory are already in clinical use. In other areas, where the tissue architecture is more complex, there are a number of obstacles to manoeuvre before clinically relevant tissues can be produced. However, even in areas where clinically relevant tissues are decades away, the tissues being produced at the moment provide powerful new models to aid the understanding of complex physiological processes. This article provides a personal view of the role of tissue engineering in advancing our understanding of physiology, with specific attention being paid to musculoskeletal tissues.
组织工程是一个极具前景的学科。在一些领域，比如角膜，实验室构建的组织已经应用于临床。在其他组织架构更为复杂的领域，在能够制造出临床可用的组织之前，还存在诸多障碍有待克服。然而，即便在距离临床可用组织还有数十年之遥的领域，当前所制造的组织也为助力理解复杂生理过程提供了强大的新模型。本文就组织工程在推动我们对生理学的理解方面所发挥的作用给出个人观点，尤其关注肌肉骨骼组织。
