Chapter 10 - Biofabrication techniques for neural tissue engineering

Abstract

Many researchers fabricated tissue-engineered neural scaffolds to understand brain functions and characteristics in vitro and in vivo. A functional neural scaffold contains a microenvironment for neural cell adhesion that allows regenerating neurons to grow in the damaged brain areas caused by disease and injury and promotes quick recovery. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the current state of research addressing recent advances in electrospun nanofibers-based fabrication techniques for generating neural tissue engineering scaffolds. The chapter will present the impact of nanofibrous material components commonly used in the neural scaffold on scaffolds' structure, properties, and biological efficiency. The following will be reported for each electrospun-based neural tissue scaffold: (1) materials and methods for manufacturing the neural scaffold, (2) structure of the generated scaffold, (3) impact of the material components' composition on the scaffold properties. Finally, we will comment on each electrospun-based neural tissue scaffold's uniqueness, limitations, and potential applications.