Abstract
Scaffolds support and promote the formation of new functional tissues through cellular interactions with living cells. Various types of scaffolds have found their way into biomedical science, particularly in tissue engineering. Scaffolds with a superior tissue regenerative capacity must be biocompatible and biodegradable, and must possess excellent functionality and bioactivity. The different polymers that are used in fabricating scaffolds can influence these parameters. Polysaccharide-based polymers, such as collagen and chitosan, exhibit exceptional biocompatibility and biodegradability, while the degradability of synthetic polymers can be improved using chemical modifications. However, these modifications require multiple steps of chemical reactions to be carried out, which could potentially compromise the end product’s biosafety. At present, conducting polymers, such as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS), polyaniline, and polypyrrole, are often incorporated into matrix scaffolds to produce electrically conductive scaffold composites. However, this will reduce the biodegradability rate of scaffolds and, therefore, agitate their biocompatibility. This article discusses the current trends in fabricating electrically conductive scaffolds, and provides some insight regarding how their immunogenicity performance can be interlinked with their physical and biodegradability properties.
Highlights
Advances in tissue engineering (TE) promise novel techniques to accelerate the recovery of damaged tissues by overcoming autologous, allogeneic, and xenogeneic tissue repair [1]
Implantable scaffolds can meet the required criteria of biocompatibility, porosity, cell viability, and mechanical properties [4] by ensuring: (1) a greater control over the scaffold’s surface topography, surface wettability and surface charge [5]; (2) an optimised scaffold’s mass transportability to facilitate nutrient exchange and waste removal; (3) optimised biocompatibility to minimise the risk of toxicity [6,7,8]; (4) the presence of biological cues for cell fate to induce tissue regeneration [9,10,11]; (5) similarity in the rate of scaffold biodegradation and tissue growth [12,13]
In another study focusing on conductive polymers (CPs), the electrical deterioration of scaffolds could be prevented by immobilising the dopant in a polyaniline (PANI) conductive scaffold patch
Summary
Advances in tissue engineering (TE) promise novel techniques to accelerate the recovery of damaged tissues by overcoming autologous, allogeneic, and xenogeneic tissue repair [1]. Scaffolds only act as a support system for cells to attach and proliferate Due to this limited functionality, scaffold-based tissue engineering is primarily focused on improving tissue recovery by electrical stimuli through the application of conductive polymers (CPs). In another study focusing on CPs, the electrical deterioration of scaffolds could be prevented by immobilising the dopant in a polyaniline (PANI) conductive scaffold patch. The biodegradation trends of conductive scaffolds in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) will be reviewed, together with a juxtaposition with human immunogenic responses. Another feature of this field of research is that its outcomes can spur innovations in drug delivery processes [27]. In the latter part of this review, we outline several of the current developments of biodegradable natural materials and synthetic polymeric materials for various biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, wound healing, and drug delivery
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