Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a well-established biological product used in
the tissue engineering field to promote wound healing and tissue regeneration. PRP can
form platelet gel with the addition of thrombin and/or calcium salts. Nonetheless, PRP
is more commonly combined with biomaterial and cells for various tissue engineering
applications. Over the years, PRP has been used in the dermatology field for hair
follicle regeneration and wound healing, in the orthopaedic field for bone, muscle,
tendon, and ligament repair, and in dentistry for many dental procedures, including
dental implants. Despite the long historical use of PRP in the clinic, the PRP isolation
technique is still continuously changing, evolving, and improving to increase the
therapeutic effect of PRP. Nowadays, PRP is not only used as a biomaterial but it also
can be used to replace foetal bovine serum and human serum in primary cell culture,
especially for cell therapy purposes. PRP derivatives such as platelet lysate, plateletderived growth factors, and platelet-derived extracellular vesicles also are precious
functional materials used clinically in the tissue engineering field. In this book chapter,
we review the different subclasses of PRP, including its derivatives, its research, and
clinical applications, and underline the challenges of PRP in clinical translations.
Keywords: Biomaterial, Platelet-derived extracellular vesicles, Platelet-derived growth factor, Platelet-rich plasma, Tissue engineering.
