Chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane: A biomaterial testing platform for tissue engineering applications

The development of biomaterials frequently relies on testing the responses of surrounding tissues to implants. A simple, affordable ex-vivo platform would be very helpful for tissue engineering. In this paper, we concentrate on the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of the chick embryo as a platform for evaluating the biological charac-terisation of biomaterials. The chick embryo CAM provides a quickly expanding, non-innerved vascular bed that may support tissue culture as a substitute blood supply and serve as a biomaterial testing model. Studies of CAM go beyond their more common applications in the lab; topics include tissue responses, wound healing, anti-bacterial/viral agents, angiogenic characteristics of biomaterials, CAM as bioreactors, and live bone regenera-tion. It is explored how useful CAM could be as an ex-vivo model in the field of tissue engineering.