%0 book part
%@ 
%A Zehbe, R., Brochhausen, C., Halbel, A., Halstenberg, S., Watzer, B., Gabler, F., Schubert, H., Kirkpatrick, C.J., Gross, U.

%D 2008
%J Tissue Engineering Research Trends

%P 217-237 

%T Tissue Engineering of Articular Cartilage - Scaffold Concepts, Stimulation by Drug Release and Tissue Characterization by Synchrotron Mu-CT
%U 
 
%X materials. The most common methodology for the characterization of tissue engineered materials is the evaluation of sectioned and stained specimens, either by conventional histology, by immunohistochemistry or electron microscopy. A new innovative methodology for structural characterization which we have extensively utilized is synchrotron μ-tomography. This methodology is currently exerting increasing impact in the field of tissue engineering. It allows for the complete three-dimensional characterization of biological samples with spatial resolutions below 1.0 μm. In our studies we were able to characterize not only tissue engineered scaffolds for articular cartilage regeneration in their three-dimensional morphological aspects, but also the cellular distribution on cell seeded materials and compare these findings with tomographic data from native tissues. In conclusion, new innovative strategies in tissue engineering and in the characterization of tissue engineered materials shows promise in improving cartilage repair strategies.