Nanofibres biomedical applications

Liang D, Hsiao BS, Chu B (2007) Functional electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds for biomedical applications. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 59(14) 1392-1412... 

Functional nanofibrous scaffolds produced by electrospinning have great potential in many biomedical applications, especially tissue engineering and regenerative... 

Biomedical applications of nanofibres generally fall into three categories selected separation, wound dressing and tissue engineering. 

Modification or functionalisalion of nanofibres is the important trend in the development of nanofibrous structures for biomedical applications, in order to engineer specific features that will help maximise their end use performance. A spectrum of bioactive molecules, including antibacterial agents, anti-cancer drugs, enzymes and proteins, can be incorporated into nanofibres via dlHerent approaches. 

The future trend of nanofibre development may include modification toward functionalisation of polymer nanofibres intended to improve their performance and function in biomedical applications. This purpose is achieved by incorporating such therapeutic agents as antibacterial agents and growth factors into the nanofibrous structures, so that the product will duly become capable of infection control, with improved biocompatibility and promotion of cell proliferation and differentiation. 

Due to its ease of implementation, electrospinning has received a lot of attention as a technique to produce nanoflbres [83]. When the diameter of polymer fibre materials shrinks from the microscale to the submicro or nanoscale, several new characteristics appear, such as enhanced surface area-to-volume ratio and a superior mechanical performance [84]. Therefore, biopolymer nanofibrous mats show great potential to be used as particle filters, nanocomposite reinforcing fibres, protective clothing and in biomedical applications like wound dressings, sutures, tissue engineering scaffolds, implantable devices and drug delivery [83-85]. 

Uykun N., Ergal 1., Kurt H., Gokceoren A T, Gocek I., Kayaoglu B. K., Akarsubasi A T, and Sarac A S., Fabrication of an antibacterial nanofibrous PVP/CTAB membrane for potential biomedical applications,/. Bioact Biocomp. Poiym., 2014,29,4,382-397. 

Wagberg L, Decher G, Norgren M et al (2008) The build up of polyelectrolyte multilayers of microfibrillated cellulose and cationic polyelectrolytes. Langmuir 24 784-795 Wan WK, Hutter JL, Millon LE et al (2006) Bacterial cellulose and it s nanocomposites for biomedical applications. In Oksman K, Sain M (eds) Cellulose nanocomposites. Processing characterization and properties. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC Wang B, Sain M (2007a) Dispersion of soybean stock-based nanofibre in a plastic matrix. Polym Int 56 538-546... 

As reported in other chapters in this volume, PLA is one of the most used materials for biomedical applications due to biocompatibility and biodegradability, but hydrophobic properties require the encapsulation of water-soluble agents to avoid decomposition and failure of the polymer as a drug-carrier substrate. One of the advantages of coaxial electrospinning is that solid or liquid drugs can be incorporated into electrospun nanofibres and it is possible to encapsulate drugs into a structural shell. 

Nanofibrous mats can also act as ion exchangers [45,46] which have faster kinetics compared to the classical, granular systems. SEM image of pollens of Aesculus hippocas-tanum filtered by electrospun media can be seen in Figure 10.3. It is worth mentioning that nanofibers have approximately two orders of magnitude lower p>ore size than the size of the pollens, therefore even smaller items can be filtered such as bacteria, which points to the biomedical applications of electrospun nanofibers. 

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