Application of computational fluid dynamics in tissue engineering

The process of tissue regeneration consists of a set of complex phenomena such as hydrodynamics, nutrient transfer, cell growth, and matrix deposition. Traditional cell culture and bioreactor design procedure follow trial-and-error analyses to understand the effects of varying physical, chemical, and mechanical parameters that govern the process of tissue regeneration. This trend has been changing as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis can now be used to understand the effects of flow, cell proliferation, and consumption kinetics on the dynamics involved with in vitro tissue regeneration. Furthermore, CFD analyses enable understanding the influence of nutrient transport on cell growth and the effect of cell proliferation as the tissue regenerates. This is especially advantageous in improving and optimizing the design of bioreactors and tissue culture. Influence of parameters such as velocity, oxygen tension, stress, and strain on tissue growth can be effectively studied throughout the bioreactor using CFD as it becomes impractical and cumbersome to install probes at several locations in the bioreactor. Hence, CFD offers several advantages for the advancement of tissue engineering.