Biomaterials and Stem Cells

Longitudinal studies have indicated the involvement and performance of multitudinous biomaterials for stem cell-based cytotherapy and regenerative medicine largely attribute to their specific biocompatibility. Currently, stem cells and biomaterial scaffolds have been considered as the two essential elements of the cornerstone of tissue engineering. On the one hand, biomaterials are beneficial to provide suitable microenvironments for enhancing the cellular vitality and therapeutic effect of stem cells. On the other hand, biomaterial-induced fibrosis and inflammation remain a prominent challenge in designing and synthesizing appropriate materials to facilitate tissue repair and organ regeneration. In this book chapter, we summarize the classification and physicochemical properties of the indicated biomaterials, and appraise the latest literatures of biomaterial and stem cell composite for broad biomedical applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Collectively, we retrospect the current advancement of biomaterial engineering and science, and highlight the multifaceted biomaterial-assisted stem cell-based tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and in particular, the biomaterial-based composites with mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) and the derivatives (e.g., exosomes, small microvesicles) for intractable disease administration.