Nanofibrous scaffold in tissue engineering

Dear Friends, Nanofibrous scaffolds have been a major revolution in the field of tissue engineering which may improve the health and quality of life by enhancing tissue function. These are the artificial extracellular matrices which offer natural surroundings for tissue formation. Owing to their high surface to volume ratio, nanofibrous scaffolds increase cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation more proficiently. There are several techniques for the fabrications of these scaffolds, namely, phase separation, self-assembly, melt blowing, electrospinning, and templating system. Of which, electrospun scaffolds are very well-known for their utility from drug delivery to wound healing. Scaffolds perform a significant role in tissue engineering. Nanofibrous scaffolds should possess significant physiochemical properties, namely, support cells, induce cell differentiation and promote tissue growth, biocompatible and biodegradable should have mechanical strength, flexibility, and porosity. Usually, biodegradable polymers (natural and synthetic), composite biomaterials, and metals have been utilized as nanofibrous fabricating materials. Nanofibrous scaffolds have plethora of biomedical applications. Electrospun nanofibers scaffolds have also been utilized as skin grafts attributed to their high surface area-to-volume ratio which presents increased surface for attachment. Moreover, nanofiber scaffolds have advantages of protecting the wound area from fluid loss, helps in exudates removal; prohibit outer microorganism incursion and exceptional anti-adhesion properties. Polyurethane nanofiber matrices, collagen nanofibers, electrospun silk fibroin, and electrospun chitin nanofibers are widely used as skin grafts. Another application involves its utilization in blood vessel grafting. Synthetic polymer, i.e., polytetrafluoroethylene and aligned poly(L-lactide-coε-caprolactone), P(LLA-CL:: 75:25) has been used as blood vessel graft. Furthermore, nanofiber scaffold has also been employed as tendon graft, nerve graft, and skeletal muscle graft. Scaffolds possessing excellent biomedical applications are still at a setback due to certain reasons. Numerous attempts are being carried out to enhance the mechanical properties of nanofibrous scaffolds so as to mimic the native tissue. In addition, utilization of number of toxic solvents for polymeric dispersion might result in unwanted cellular response. This arises a serious requirement to substitute these organic solvents and improve their efficiency.