Functionalized nanostructures with application in regenerative medicine

In the last decade, both regenerative medicine and nanotechnology have been broadly developed leading important advances in biomedical research as well as in clinical practice. The manipulation on the molecular level and the use of several functionalized nanoscaled materials has application in various fields of regenerative medicine including tissue engineering, cell therapy, diagnosis and drug and gene delivery. The themes covered in this review include nanoparticle systems for tracking transplanted stem cells, self-assembling peptides, nanoparticles for gene delivery into stem cells and biomimetic scaffolds useful for 2D and 3D tissue cell cultures, transplantation and clinical application.

This work was supported in part by grants from the Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia (Junta de Andalucía, excellence project number CTS-6568) and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria, FEDER funds, grant number PI10/02295).