Abstract
Biopolymers are materials synthesised or derived from natural sources, such as plants, animals, microorganisms or any other living organism. The use of these polymers has grown significantly in recent years as industry shifts away from unsustainable fossil fuel resources and looks towards a softer and more sustainable environmental approach. This review article covers the main classes of biopolymers: Polysaccharides, proteins, microbial-derived and lignin. In addition, an overview of the leading biomedical applications of biopolymers is also provided, which includes tissue engineering, medical implants, wound dressings, and the delivery of bioactive molecules. The future clinical applications of biopolymers are vast, due to their inherent biocompatibility, biodegradability and low immunogenicity. All properties which their synthetic counterparts do not share.
Highlights
Due to the pressures of a growing population and rapid growth in materials research, manufacturing demands have resulted in unsustainable use of petrochemical resources which in turn have contributed greatly to global pollution and climate change
While CNC and Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) are isolated from lignocellulosic biomass using top-down deconstruction methods of cellulose fiber, bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is produced by a down-top process, which consists of the assembly of low molecular weight sugars by bacteria [19]
For skin tissue engineering CNC and CNF have been combined with several polymers to produce structures to obtain features similar to native skin improving the biocompatibility, mechanical, thermal and swelling properties
Summary
Due to the pressures of a growing population and rapid growth in materials research, manufacturing demands have resulted in unsustainable use of petrochemical resources which in turn have contributed greatly to global pollution and climate change. While CNC and CNF are isolated from lignocellulosic biomass using top-down deconstruction methods of cellulose fiber, BNC is produced by a down-top process, which consists of the assembly of low molecular weight sugars by bacteria [19]. Biopolymers are polymers produced from natural sources either chemically synthesised from biological material or entirely biosynthesised by living organisms. These include: Polysaccharides, such as cellulose, hemicellulose, starch, or chitosan; protein animal-based polymers, such as silk and collagen; and lignin, a high-molecular weight biopolymer present in the cell walls of vascular plants, which has complex and variable structures. Derived polymers possess huge potential for medical use due to their inherent biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity and ability to deliver bioactive molecules [28]
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