Electrospun Nanofibers of Natural and Synthetic Polymers as Artificial Extracellular Matrix for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Many types of polymer nanofibers have been introduced as artificial extracellular matrices. Their controllable properties, such as wettability, surface charge, transparency, elasticity, porosity and surface to volume proportion, have attracted much attention. Moreover, functionalizing polymers with other bioactive components could enable the engineering of microenvironments to host cells for regenerative medical applications. In the current brief review, we focus on the most recently cited electrospun nanofibrous polymeric scaffolds and divide them into five main categories: natural polymer-natural polymer composite, natural polymer-synthetic polymer composite, synthetic polymer-synthetic polymer composite, crosslinked polymers and reinforced polymers with inorganic materials. Then, we focus on their physiochemical, biological and mechanical features and discussed the capability and efficiency of the nanofibrous scaffolds to function as the extracellular matrix to support cellular function.

Tunable Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Coaxial Electrospun Composite Nanofibers of P(VDF-TrFE) and P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE)

“…Compared to uniaxial electrospinning in which a single needle is used, coaxial electrospinning requires two concentric needles with different polymer solutions to produce the core and shell of composite nanofibers [ 31 , 35 , 36 ]. Considerable efforts have been dedicated to the multifunctional properties and novelty of electrospun composite nanofibers which hold great potential for electronic devices, biomedicine, and tissue regeneration [ 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. The superior combination of the complementary polymers in the core and shell structure is beneficial to the mechanical properties over the neat polymers [ 42 , 43 ].…”

Curcuminoid-Tailored Interfacial Free Energy of Hydrophobic Fibers for Enhanced Biological Properties

“… 3 Polymeric scaffolds have gained much attention over the last two decades. 2 , 4 , 5 In this context, the fabrication of polymeric architectures aiming at the native tissues has been one of the main challenges in the field. For this purpose, several methods have been developed and refined to generate nanoscale scaffolds as ECM substitutes, such as molding, 6 microfluidics, 7 phase separation, 8 drawing, 9 and electrospinning.…”

Engineering bioactive synthetic polymers for biomedical applications: a review with emphasis on tissue engineering and controlled release

“…111 Electrospun SyPs have found a great variety of applications in tissue engineering scenarios. 112,113 The coherent and aligned orientation of nanofibers in electospun mats has an important effect on cell attachment and oriented proliferation, thereby greatly enabling the engineering of tissues with a highly aligned ECM, such as tendons, cartilage, NSCs, 111 and cardiac patches. 114,115 As previously discussed, a particular fiber alignment can be favored by controlling key parameters of the electrospinning process (i.e., voltage, flow rate, and mandrel rotation speed).…”