Tissue engineering electrospun nanofiber matrices

Sell, S., Barnes, C., Smith, M., McClure, M., Madurantakam, P., Grant, J., Mcmanus, M., Bowlin, G., 2007. Extracellular matrix regenerated tissue engineering via electrospun biomimetic nanofibers. Polymer International 56 (11), 1349—1360. 

P(3HB-co-4HB) copolymers are known to be biocompatible material. The biocompatible nature of these copolymers allows it to be utilized for various medical applications. These PHA polymers have been tested in tissue engineering applications as surgical sutures, bone plates, implants, gauzes, osteosynthetic materials, and also as matrix material assisting slow release of drugs and hormones (Zinn et al. 2001 Williams and Martin 2002 Sudesh 2004 Chen and Wu 2005 Freier 2006). Recently, electrospun nanofibers of P(3HB-co-4HB) have been evaluated as scaffolds in vivo and in vitro (Ying et al. 2008). 

Potential applications of scaffolds made from chitosan and chitin nanofibers have been explored in tissue engineering. Chitin and chitosan can be electrospun into nanoscaffolds that could resemble the native extracellular matrix and have improved cytocompatibility for tissue engineering... 

Xu, C. Y., R. Inai, M. Kotaki, and S. Ramakrishna (2004b). Electrospun nanofiber fabrication as synthetic extracellular matrix and its potential for vascular tissue engineering. Tissue Engineering 10(7-8) 1160-1168. 

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