Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
area.
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Tissueengineeringistodelivertheconceptofmimickingthe
native tissue structure involving cells and the extracellular matrix
(ECM) under
ex vivo
conditions with the convergence of techno-
logical development and biological knowledge. This is possible, in
most part, by engineering the ECM component, which can trigger
cellstodevelopatissue-mimickingcompositionandbiologicalhier-
archy. The nanofibrous structure, with its morphological feature, is
thus regarded to mimic the tissue ECM, such as collagen and elastin
fibrous proteins, those mostabundantin native tissue.
Some methodologies are currently being used to create the
nanofibrous structure, which include phase separation, self-
assembly, and electrospinning.
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Among these, electrospinning is
the most widely used technique.
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This is because not only is
the processing simple and the setup cost-effective, but also the
composition and fiber diameter (tens of nanometers to a few
micrometers) can be easily tuned to the applications. Many stud-
ies have reported the potential of nanofibrous matrices in guiding
tissue cells to adhere and spread and in stimulating the secretion
of appropriate ECM molecules targeted to blood vessel, skin, carti-
lage,muscle,tooth,andbone.Forbonetissueregeneration,thereare
growinginterestsinproducingnanofibrousmaterialswithcomposi-
tionsandmorphologiesappropriateforbonecelldifferentiationand
bone-mimicking ECM production, which finally replaces the native
function of bone.
This chapter will introduce some recent studies on nanofibrous
materials for bone tissue regeneration, with particular emphasis on
the electrospinning method. The main category will be focused on
the generation of a bone-mimicking composition and functionaliza-
tion of matrices withbioactivefactors.
14.2 Nanofiber Production Tools and Electrospinning
To generate materials into a nanofibrous form, some methodolo-
gies have been introduced, which include phase separation, self-
assembly, and electrospinning. Compared with the former two
methods, electrospinning has been the most popularly used tool to
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