The Use of Natural Polymers in Tissue Engineering: A Focus on Electrospun Extracellular Matrix Analogues

Abstract

Natural polymers such as collagens, elastin, and fibrinogen make up much of the body's native extracellular matrix (ECM). This ECM provides structure and mechanical integrity to tissues, as well as communicating with the cellular components it supports to help facilitate and regulate daily cellular processes and wound healing. An ideal tissue engineering scaffold would not only replicate the structure of this ECM, but would also replicate the many functions that the ECM performs. In the past decade, the process of electrospinning has proven effective in creating non-woven ECM analogue scaffolds of micro to nanoscale diameter fibers from an array of synthetic and natural polymers. The ability of this fabrication technique to utilize the aforementioned natural polymers to create tissue engineering scaffolds has yielded promising results, both in vitro and in vivo, due in part to the enhanced bioactivity afforded by materials normally found within the human body. This review will present the process of electrospinning and describe the use of natural polymers in the creation of bioactive ECM analogues in tissue engineering.

Biodegradable magnesium alloys for orthopaedic applications: A review on corrosion, biocompatibility and surface modifications

“…Natural polymers such as collagen, chitosan, stearic acid and serum albumin have been studied as coatings on the surface of Mg and its alloys for anti-corrosive as well as biocompatible properties [100,101]. In comparison to sol-gel and synthetic poly-esters, natural polymers exhibit excellent biocompatibility due to their biomimetic nature [101].…”

Poly(ε-caprolactone)/keratin-based composite nanofibers for biomedical applications

“…Other advantages of natural polymers include high hydrophilicity and low-to-no cytotoxicity, as well as enhancement of cell adhesion and proliferation. 8 Nanofibers from natural polymers, especially those derived from natu-ral resources, may also provide virtually unlimited resources for the development of tissue-compatible scaffolds for functional restoration of damaged or dysfunctional tissues. Collagen, gelatin, hyaluronan, silk, chitosan, alginate, keratin, fibrinogen, and elastin are the most commonly used natural polymers in tissue engineering.…”

“…Collagen, gelatin, hyaluronan, silk, chitosan, alginate, keratin, fibrinogen, and elastin are the most commonly used natural polymers in tissue engineering. 8,9 Among this large list of natural polymers, a few attempts have been made to prepare keratin-based nanofibrous structures by electrospinning, with some degree of success. 10 These nanofibers are primarily made of polyblends of wool-based keratin and polyethylene oxide.…”

The Creation of Electrospun Nanofibers from Platelet Rich Plasma

“…This control over fiber orientation, coupled with the diverse array of polymers conducive to being electrospun, allows for the tissue engineer to create structures with tailorable mechanical properties. Additionally, these scaffolds exhibit high surface area-to-volume ratios, high porosities, and variable pore-size distributions that mimic the native ECM and effectively create a dynamic structure capable of sustaining the passive transport of nutrients and waste throughout the structures [1][2][3][4][5][6][7].…”

“…The incorporation of growth factors into electrospun matrices for tissue engineering has the potential to enhance scaffold bioactivity, by supplying appropriate physical and chemical cues to promote cellular proliferation and migration, thereby increasing the cellularization of the structures [1,13,14]. By replicating the role of the native ECM in the normal wound healing cascade, that is serving as a reservoir of soluble growth factors critical to regeneration and providing a template for tissue repair, it may be possible to accelerate cellularization and tissue repair [3,13].…”