Tissue engineering in otology: a review of achievements

Abstract

Tissue engineering application in otology spans a distance from the pinna to auditory nerve covered with specialized tissues and functions such as sense of hearing and aesthetics. It holds the potential to address the barriers of lack of donor tissue, poor tissue match, and transplant rejection through provision of new and healthy tissues similar to the host and possesses the capacity to renew, to regenerate, and to repair in-vivo and was shown to be a bypasses for any need to immunosuppression. This review aims to investigate the application of tissue engineering in otology and to evaluate the achievements and challenges in external, middle and inner ear sections. Since gaining the recent knowledge and training on use of different scaffolds is essential for otology specialists and who look for the recovery of ear function and aesthetics of patients, it is shown in this review how utilizing tissue engineering and cell transplantation, regenerative medicine can provide advancements in hearing and ear aesthetics to fit different patients’ needs.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Regenerative medicine by utilizing tissue engineering and cell transplantation was shown to provide advancements in hearing and ear aesthetics to fit different patients’ needs.

• Gaining the necessary knowledge and training on use of different scaffolds is essential for otology specialists and patients who search for hearing and ear aesthetics.

• It is crucial that patients are instructed for differences exist between various scaffolds for hearing and ear aesthetics.

Keywords:

• Tissue engineering
• scaffold
• biomaterials
• otology
• ear
• auricular tissue
• tympanic membrane

Authors’ contribution

Reza Kaboodkhani: Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Writing–original draft, Writing–review & editing; Davood Mehrabani: Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Writing–original draft, Writing–review & editing, Supervision; Armaghan Moghaddam: Writing–review & editing; Iman Salahshoori: Writing–review & editing; Hossein Ali Khonakdar: Writing–review & editing, Project administration.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.