Nanotechnology meets regenerative medicine: a new frontier?

Regenerative medicine is the creation of a tissue or organ with normal structures and functions to replace the lost or impaired ones via biological modulation and tissue engineering. Indeed, many researchers have focused on exploring new techniques or approaches in this field. In recent years, numerous nanotechnologies have been incorporated into the field of regenerative medicine, aiming to replace tissues. The application of nanotechnology is important as many nanomaterials exhibit novel biological properties in the modulation of cellular events. The two main directions in this field are to provide biologically compatible scaffolds as an optimal environment for cell migration and proliferation; as well as to attempt to induce stem cell recruitment and differentiation. Thus, this review will focus on these two aspects, briefly describing the clinical applications.