Bioactive Electrospun Scaffolds Delivering Growth Factors and Genes for Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

A biomaterial scaffold is one of the key factors for successful tissue engineering. In recent years, an increasing tendency has been observed toward the combination of scaffolds and biomolecules, e.g. growth factors and therapeutic genes, to achieve bioactive scaffolds, which not only provide physical support but also express biological signals to modulate tissue regeneration. Huge efforts have been made on the exploration of strategies to prepare bioactive scaffolds. Within the past five years, electrospun scaffolds have gained an exponentially increasing popularity in this area because of their ultrathin fiber diameter and large surface-volume ratio, which is favored for biomolecule delivery. This paper reviews current techniques that can be used to prepare bioactive electrospun scaffolds, including physical adsorption, blend electrospinning, coaxial electrospinning, and covalent immobilization. In addition, this paper also analyzes the existing challenges (i.e., protein instability, low gene transfection efficiency, and difficulties in accurate kinetics prediction) to achieve biomolecule release from electrospun scaffolds, which necessitate further research to fully exploit the biomedical applications of these bioactive scaffolds.

Electrospun Nanofibers for Regenerative Medicine

“…[30] Many different types of bioactive molecules have been incorporated into scaffolds of electrospun nanofibers, including growth factors. [31] Growth factors are endogenous proteins capable of binding to cell receptors and directing cellular activities.…”

Electrospun nanofibers of polyCD/PMAA polymers and their potential application as drug delivery system

“…In this sense, polymer fibers have attracted great interest, including for use as DDS, due to their typical properties, e.g., large surface area-to-volume ratio and possible surface modifications [6][7][8]. Moreover, drugs loaded in polymeric fibers can provide systemic and locoregional therapies compared with other DDS, such as nanoparticles, nanocapsules or micellar systems, which have intrinsic fluidity and are difficult to keep localized in a specific area of the body [9,10].…”

Nanofibers and their biomedical use

“…Despite the fact that tissue engineering has been constantly evolving ever since the first mention of the term in 1987, the clinical use of tissue substitutes is nowadays still far below expectations (13). The primary idea of regenerative medicine was to prepare a carrier from biomaterials in the form of the affected tissue or organ, seed it with the patient's autologous cells and then implant the entire system in the body (14). However, another strategy is currently in precedence.…”

“…It is much more than just a physical support for the cells. ECM also represents a substrate for cell adhesion via specific ligands, provides and directs cell migration and regulates their growth and functions through a variety of bioactive factors (14,15).…”