Biomimetic Polyurethanes in Tissue Engineering

Inspiration from nature is a promising tool for the design of new polymeric biomaterials, espe-cially for frontier technological areas such as tissue engineering. In tissue engineering, polyure-thane-based implants have gained considerable attention, as they are materials that can be de-signed to meet the requirements imposed by their final applications. The choice of their building blocks (which are used in the synthesis as macrodiols, diisocyanates and chain extenders) can be implemented to obtain biomimetic structures that can mimic native tissue in terms of mechanical, morphological and surface properties. In recent years, due to their excellent chemical stability, biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity, polyurethanes have been widely used in biomedical ap-plications. Biomimetic materials with their inherent nature of mimicking natural materials are possible thanks to recent advances in manufacturing technology. The aim of this review is to provide a critical overview of relevant promising studies on polyurethane scaffolds, including those based on non-isocyanate polyurethanes, for the regeneration of selected soft (cardiac muscle, blood vessels, skeletal muscle) and hard (bone tissue) tissues.