Cells, Biomaterials, and Biophysical Stimuli for Bone, Cartilage, and Muscle Regeneration

Over the last few years, a variety of tissue engineering strategies have been developed to improve the regeneration of bone, cartilage, and skeletal muscle. Numerous studies have proven that physical factors (external mechanical forces, and biomaterials’ features), as well as biochemical factors, may induce cells to reprogram their functions and dynamically adapt to the cellular microenvironment conditions. The advances in understanding the role of biophysical cues in the stem cells microenvironment point out the importance of their application in biomedicine and biotechnology to drive and modulate cell behavior for therapeutic purposes. In this context, many efforts are dedicated to design different strategies to engineer the physical aspects of the natural cellular microenvironment. The development of these technologies may be useful for identifying and studying the physical factors and help to clarify their downstream mechanisms to control cell behavior. This Research Topic will promote an overview of recent advances and cutting-edge approaches based on primary cells, stem cells, extracellular vesicles (EVs), biomaterial scaffolds, bioreactors, biophysical stimuli (e.g., mechanical forces, electromagnetic waves), and biochemical cues. All research involving one or more of the aforementioned cells and methods is welcome to elucidate new basic-research findings (e.g., molecular insights, biochemical pathways toward regeneration) and possible new clinical strategies (e.g., bioreactors for cell factories). An interdisciplinary design (e.g., biology/biochemistry plus bioengineering) is very welcome. Effective regeneration of bone/cartilage/skeletal muscle defects often presents significant challenges, particularly in patients with decreased tissue regeneration capacity due to extensive trauma, disease, and/or aging. A different number of basic research approaches have focused on the use of stem cells, extracellular vesicles (EVs), scaffolds, biomaterial scaffolds, bioreactors, and biophysical and biochemical stimuli with a limited translation into clinical use. Additional research is needed to advance our mechanistic understanding of various cell-, EV-, scaffolds and tissue engineering-based therapies within specific clinical indications. Recent developments, challenges, and future perspectives of these various bone/cartilage/skeletal muscle tissue engineering and regeneration strategies must be presented. Original Research manuscripts, Reviews, and Opinions on the following topics are welcome: - Biophysical stimuli for regeneration (e.g., electromagnetic waves, electric fields, ultrasounds, lasers, fluid flow shear stresses, mechanical vibrations, mechanical deformations) - Bone tissue engineering/regeneration (e.g., via biophysical stimuli) - Cartilage tissue engineering/regeneration (e.g., via biophysical stimuli) - Skeletal tissue engineering/regeneration (e.g., via biophysical stimuli) - Stem cells or primary cells for regeneration, scaffolds or bioreactors - Combining biophysical and biochemical cues for regenerative medicine - Biochemical and biophysical cues in the design of functional and instructive biomaterials - Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and “cell-free” therapeutic modalities - Methods and techniques for the study of the cell response in tissue engineering strategie