Engineering Mineralized and Load Bearing Tissues

Sriram Ravindran, Anne George

Dentin and bone are mineralized tissue matrices comprised of collagen fibrils and reinforced with oriented crystalline hydroxyapatite. Although both tissues perform different functionalities, they are assembled and orchestrated by mesenchymal cells that synthesize both collagenous and noncollagenous proteins albeit in different proportions. The dentin matrix proteins (DMPs) have been studied in great detail in recent years due to its inherent calcium binding properties in the extracellular matrix resulting in tissue calcification. Recent studies have shown that these proteins can serve both as intracellular signaling proteins leading to induction of stem cell differentiation and also function as nucleating proteins in the extracellular matrix. These properties make the DMPs attractive candidates for bone and dentin tissue regeneration. This chapter will provide an overview of the DMPs, their functionality and their proven and possible applications with respect to bone tissue engineering.