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Growth factors are increasingly utilized to promote regeneration of lost or compromised tissues and organs. However, current strategies applying growth factors by bolus injections typically fail to restore tissue functions. Delivery from polymeric systems may overcome this limitation by supplying growth factors in a well-controlled, localized, and sustained manner to the defect site. Traditional polymeric delivery vehicles have been developed based on physicochemical design variables; however, it has now become clear that the appropriate mimicry of certain biologic signaling events may be necessary to achieve full function from the delivered growth factors. Because of its central importance in the development and regeneration of various tissues (e.g., blood vessels, bone, and nerves) bioinspired VEGF supply may be particularly useful to successfully restore tissue functions. Following a brief overview of VEGF's biology, design attributes for polymeric systems for VEGF delivery will be discussed, and subsequently illustrated in the context of three specific applications: therapeutic angiogenesis, bone regeneration, and nerve regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]