Hybrid Materials for Tissue Repair and Replacement: Another Frontier in Biomaterial Exploitation Focusing on Cardiovascular and Urological Fields

The main purpose of tissue engineering is to fabricate and exploit engineered constructssuitable for the effective replacement of damaged tissues and organs to perfectly integrate with thehost’s organism without eliciting any adverse reaction. Ideally, autologous materials represent thebest option, but they are often limited due to the low availability of compatible healthy tissues. So far,one therapeutic approach relies on the exploitation of synthetic materials as they exhibit good featuresin terms of impermeability, deformability, and flexibility, but present chronic risks of infections andinflammations. Alternatively, biological materials, including naturally derived ones and acellulartissue matrices of human or animal origin, can be used to induce cells growth and differentiation,which are needed for tissue regeneration; however, this kind of material lacks satisfactory mechanicalresistance and reproducibility, affecting their clinical application. In order to overcome the above-mentioned limitations, hybrid materials, which can be obtained by coupling synthetic polymers andbiological materials, have been investigated with the aim to improve biological compatibility andmechanical features. Currently, the interest in these materials is growing, but the ideal ones havenot been found yet. The present review aims at exploring some applications of hybrid materials,with particular mention to urological and cardiovascular fields. In the first case, the efforts to find aconstruct that can guarantee impermeability, mechanical resistance, and patency is herein illustrated;in the second case, the search for impermeability, hemocompatibility and adequate complianceis disclosed.