Electrospun Nanofibers as Carriers of Microorganisms, Stem Cells, Proteins, and Nucleic Acids in Therapeutic and Other Applications

Abstract

Electrospinning is a technique that uses polymer solutions and strong electric fields to produce nano-sized fibers that have wide-ranging applications. We present here an overview of the use of electrospinning to incorporate biological products into nanofibers, including microorganisms, cells, proteins, and nucleic acids. Although the conditions used during electrospinning limit the already problematic viability/stability of such biological products, their effective incorporation into nanofibers has been shown to be feasible. Synthetic polymers have been more frequently applied to make nanofibers than natural polymers. Polymer blends are commonly used to achieve favorable physical properties of nanofibers. The majority of nanofibers that contain biological product have been designed for therapeutic applications. The incorporation of these biological products into nanofibers can promote their stability or viability, and also allow their delivery to a desired tissue or organ. Other applications include plant protection in agriculture, fermentation in the food industry, biocatalytic environmental remediation, and biosensing. Live cells that have been incorporated into nanofibers include bacteria and fungi. Nanofibers have served as scaffolds for stem cells seeded on a surface, to enable their delivery and application in tissue regeneration and wound healing. Viruses incorporated into nanofibers have been used in gene delivery, as well as in therapies against bacterial infections and cancers. Proteins (hormones, growth factors, and enzymes) and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) have been incorporated into nanofibers, mainly to treat diseases and enhance their stability. To summarize, incorporation of biological products into nanofibers has numerous advantages, such as providing protection and facilitating controlled delivery from a solid form with a large surface area. Future studies should address the challenge of transferring nanofibers with biological products into practical and industrial use.

Materials promoting viral gene delivery

“…218 In recent years, electrospinning techniques emerged as a promising process to create PCL fibrous structures for sustained and localized gene delivery. 219,220 In order to incorporate cargo to the fibers, coaxial spinning techniques can be utilized, in which an inner jet with cargo molecules and outer jet with polymer solution overcome the limitations of single stream electrospinning. 221 In one such approach, Ad was encapsulated in PCL in a core-shell fashion for subsequent porogen-mediated release.…”

Electrospun Fiber Scaffolds for Engineering Glial Cell Behavior to Promote Neural Regeneration

“…In a recent study, Zech et al cultured Schwann cells onto PLGA fibers loaded with the neuroprotective drug, Nimodipine, and found that sustained release of Nimodipine from PLGA fibers significantly reduced Schwann cell death from osmotic and heat stress and, although not significant, slightly reduced Schwann cell death from oxidative stress compared to control PLGA fibers [ 159 ]. Loading proteins, such as growth factors, hormones, and enzymes, into electrospun fibers can significantly enhance their regenerative potential in the PNS as well as throughout the body [ 160 , 161 ]. Neurotrophic growth factors, such as nerve growth factor (NGF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), are commonly employed in biomaterials for neural repair due to their ability to enhance neuron survival, axonal growth, and Schwann cell migration [ 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 , 166 ].…”

Altering the characterization of nanofibers by changing the electrospinning parameters and their application in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and gene delivery systems

“…The biological products mentioned here include living cells and viruses, as well as their components such as proteins and nucleic acids 127 . Biological products are primarily intended to be used in medicine (e.g.…”