Nanostructured Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine

Vinoy      Thomas; Derrick   R.   Dean; Yogesh   K.   Vohra

Abstract

An ideal 3D-scaffold for tissue regeneration should have similarity to native ECM in terms of both chemical composition and physical nanostructure. Recently, nanostructured biomaterials having physical nanofeatures such as nanocrystals, nanofibers nanosurfaces, nanocomposites, etc. gained much interest in regenerative medicine. This is mainly because of their resemblance of physical nanofeatures to natural extra cellular matrices. This review mainly focuses on nanocrystalline bioresrobable bioceramic scaffolds and nanofibrous polymeric scaffolds for tissue regeneration. Fabrication of porous bioceramics based on HA and other calcium phosphates with interconnected pore structure can be done by the replication of polymer foam. The advantage of this technique is the control over porosity, pore geometry and pore size of the fabricated scaffolds. Therefore, the first part of the review focused on porous nanocrystalline bioceramics for bone tissue engineering. Electrospinning is a versatile technique to fabricate nanofibrous polymeric matrices for use in regenerative medicine. The recent developments in electrospun scaffolds with a special emphasis on FDA approved biodegradable polymers such as PCL, PLA, PLGA, collagens, etc are presented in the second part. A special attention has been made to review the mechanical properties and cell interaction of the electrospun mats. Electrostatic co-spinning of polymers with nanohydroxyapatite to fabricate hybrid nanocomposite scaffolds as potential scaffolds mimicking the complex nanostructured architecture of bone has been suggested for hard tissue regeneration.

Keywords: Nanohydroxyapatite, Bioceramics, Nanocomposites, Electrospinning, Hybrid materials, Collagen, Nanofibrous scaffolds, Tissue engineering