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Figure 12.3.
SEM micrographs of the interaction between cells and an
electrospun nanofibrous structure after 5 days of culture. NIH 3T3 fibrob-
last cells adhering onto the fibers and proliferating on the nanofibrous
network showed a packing structure after 5 days of culture. (A) Original
magnification5,500;(B)originalmagnification5,000.Thecellscross-linked
thenanofibrousmatrixandintegratedwiththesurroundingfiberstoforma
3D cellular network; (C) with original magnification 5,000. Reprinted from
Ref. 10 with permission from Elsevier.
matrices from natural polymers, especially those derived from
plants, may provide virtually unlimited resources for the develop-
ment of tissue-compatible scaffolds for functional restoration of
damaged or dysfunctional tissues. This restoration currently relies
mainly on the autograft and allograft procedures—surgical proce-
duresfacingthechallengesoflimitedresources,riskofinfection,and
viral transmission.
12.3 Electrospun Nanofiber Matrices as
Tissue Regenerative Matrices
“Tissue regeneration,” “tissue engineering,” and “regenerative medi-
cine” are related terms and sometimes used interchangeably. A new
frontier in health care, regenerative medicine is an evolving thera-
peutic approach that utilizes living cells to repair or replace body
tissue damaged by injury, disease, or the aging process. It is a mul-
tidisciplinary field involving biology, medicine, and engineering.
15
Regenerative therapies rely on the body's own natural ability to
repairandregenerateandenablethebodytohealbyitself.Regener-
ativemedicinealsoempowersscientiststogrowlivingcells,tissues,
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