Abstract
Nowadays, the development of new eco-friendly and biocompatible materials using ‘green’ technologies represents a significant challenge for the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields to reduce the destructive actions of scientific research on the human body and the environment. Thus, bacterial cellulose (BC) has a central place among these novel tailored biomaterials. BC is a non-pathogenic bacteria-produced polysaccharide with a 3D nanofibrous structure, chemically identical to plant cellulose, but exhibiting greater purity and crystallinity. Bacterial cellulose possesses excellent physicochemical and mechanical properties, adequate capacity to absorb a large quantity of water, non-toxicity, chemical inertness, biocompatibility, biodegradability, proper capacity to form films and to stabilize emulsions, high porosity, and a large surface area. Due to its suitable characteristics, this ecological material can combine with multiple polymers and diverse bioactive agents to develop new materials and composites. Bacterial cellulose alone, and with its mixtures, exhibits numerous applications, including in the food and electronic industries and in the biotechnological and biomedical areas (such as in wound dressing, tissue engineering, dental implants, drug delivery systems, and cell culture). This review presents an overview of the main properties and uses of bacterial cellulose and the latest promising future applications, such as in biological diagnosis, biosensors, personalized regenerative medicine, and nerve and ocular tissue engineering.
Highlights
Over the last decades, due to the advancement of technology [1], wide novel, multifunctional, and biomimetic biomaterials have been developed [2] with enhanced properties and applications [3]suitable for use in areas from the food industry to regenerative medicine and bioprinting [4].These biomaterials can be successfully substitute for the traditional materials [5]
This present review has focused on the exposure of the synthesis, fundamental properties of bacterial cellulose, and its multiple applications in diverse domains, from food packaging to biotechnological, biomedical, and pharmaceutical industries
Bacterial cellulose is a valuable polysaccharide synthesized by a wide range of non-pathogenic bacteria under special culture conditions
Summary
Due to the advancement of technology (artificial intelligence or robotics) [1], wide novel, multifunctional, and biomimetic biomaterials (natural, modified natural, or synthetic) have been developed [2] with enhanced properties and applications [3]. The novel biomaterials should have the capacity to sustain their structural stability to assure cellular proliferation and the development of new skin tissues [14] These biomaterials show biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-immunogenicity, non-cytotoxicity, biological inertness, histoconductivity, histoinductivity [15], bioactivity, optimum physicochemical, and mechanical properties in order to be used in the biomedical area. An essential feature of these newly designed biomaterials consists in their biosynthesis using harmless and safe technologies for the environment, known as ‘green’ methods, that considerably reduce the negative consequences of pollution on the climate and the human body [17] Among these newly tailored biomaterials, a central place is occupied by bacterial cellulose (BC), an ecological polysaccharide broadly studied for multiple applications due to its excellent physicochemical and biological properties [18]. We will discuss various combinations of BC and different biopolymers (natural and synthetic) with several bioactive agents (metals, inorganic substances, plants extract, or drugs) to develop new materials and composites with a large applicability in the biomedical and biotechnological domains [37]
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