International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 3 authors, 2 centres
This summary was generated by AI from a single paper. It has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not clinical advice. Verify against the source before acting on it.
This narrative review summarizes preclinical tissue engineering strategies for recreating the anterior cruciate ligament enthesis, identifying graded zonal scaffolds combined with bioactive materials and cell-based approaches as promising but still insufficient for recapitulating the complex native anatomy and histoarchitecture.
This narrative review synthesizes published preclinical literature on tissue engineering approaches for the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) enthesis, a four-compartment interface comprising ligament, non-calcified fibrocartilage, calcified fibrocartilage, and bone. The authors describe material composites such as polycaprolactone and silk fibroin, and manufacturing techniques including three-dimensional/bio-printing, electrospinning, braiding, and embroidering used to create biphasic or triphasic scaffolds mimicking enthesis tissue gradients. Functionalized materials such as collagen, tricalcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite, and bioactive glass, as well as growth factors like BMP-2, are discussed for zone-dependent cell differentiation. The review notes that the ACL enthesis has asymmetric and polar histoarchitectures resulting from unique biomechanical loading. The authors conclude that improved biomimetic hierarchical scaffold structures and coordinated cell-growth factor strategies are needed.
