Chitosan as scaffold matrix for tissue engineering

Abstract

Tissue engineering (TE) is an interdisciplinary field involving principles of engineering and biological sciences to fabricate new tissue and organs using cells and scaffolds. It is expected to play an important role in the therapeutic approach in the current and future medicine. In the coming years, there will be an increased emphasis on the usage of biomaterials that can be integrated forming a renewable interface with prosthetic implants for regenerated medicine and cell based TE on a long term basis. In this regard, significant consideration is being given to natural cationic chitosan as a matrix for TE. Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide, produced from crustacean sources. Recent studies suggest that chitosan based matrixes are promising for TE applications. The authors describe here the uniqueness and versatility of chitosan in bone and cartilage TE in terms of structure–property relationship of chitosan scaffolds.

Chitosan–gelatin scaffolds for tissue engineering: Physico-chemical properties and biological response of buffalo embryonic stem cells and transfectant of GFP–buffalo embryonic stem cells

“…This suggests that the determining role of gelatin on the surface of the composite scaffolds facilitates greater cellular activity of cell-composite constructs. Gelatin serves as a substrate for cell adhesion, differentiation and proliferation, whereas chitosan exhibits various biological activities because of its structure and characteristic similarity to glycosaminoglycan and its analogs [11,12,21,25]. The challenges in tissue engineering primarily concern the physico-chemical properties of the material, surface and biological behavior of seeded cells to obtain the desired functions in the tissue.…”

“…Different kinds of scaffolds, including natural or synthetic polymerbased and polymer blends, have been considered for tissue engineering [5][6][7][8][9][10]. Currently, biomimetic natural biopolymer scaffolds have acquired significance as tissue scaffolds for tissue regeneration because of their superior biological response compared with synthetic scaffolds [11][12][13][14]. Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide derived from partial deacetylation of chitin [15] Chitin consists of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-b-D-glucose through a b (1 ?…”

Construction of chitin/graphene oxide hybrid hydrogels

“…Recently, Zhang et al developed a novel solvent of NaOH/urea aqueous solution to dissolve chitin via freezing-thawing cycles and subsequently fabricated novel hydrogels, aerogels, films, and fibers (Chang et al 2011a;Ding et al 2012;Duan et al 2013;Huang et al 2014). In gel state, chitosan/chitin-based materials are of considerable interest for utilization in the tissue engineering field, because their biocompatibility and biodegradability are appropriately in line with design criteria for tissue engineering (Lee and Mooney 2001;Thein-han and Misra 2008). Despite this, such hydrogels display some unsatisfactory properties such as low mechanical strength, greatly restricting their application as biomaterials.…”

Physicochemical and biological activity study of genipin-crosslinked chitosan scaffolds prepared by using supercritical carbon dioxide for tissue engineering applications

“…Tissue engineering has emerged as a truly interdisciplinary subject including fundamental principles from materials engineering and molecular biology for the development of biological substitutes that can restore, maintain, or improve tissue function or a whole organ [1,2]. The three primary tools to regenerate tissues include cells, scaffolds and growth factors [1].…”