Small molecules and small molecule drugs in regenerative medicine

• Stem cells and biomatrices are both important for successful tissue regeneration.
• Small molecules facilitate the production of target cells for tissue regeneration.
• Small molecules improve the survival and homing of cells in the body.
• Small molecules stimulate endogenous stem cells to enhance tissue regeneration.

Regenerative medicine is an emerging, multidisciplinary science that aims to replace or regenerate human cells, tissues or organs, to restore or establish normal function. Research on small molecules and small molecule drugs in regenerative medicine is currently increasing. In this review, we discuss the potential applications of small molecules and small molecule drugs in regenerative medicine. These include enabling novel cell therapy approaches and augmentation of endogenous cells for tissue regeneration, facilitating the generation of target cells for cell therapy, improving the interactions between cells and biomatrices for tissue engineering, and enhancing endogenous stem cell function for tissue regeneration. We also discuss the potential challenges for small molecule drugs in regenerative medicine.