Chapter 22 - Cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of biobased materials

Abstract

Among the artificial materials, the usage of natural biobased material introduces a new potential approach for the evolution of futuristic biocompatible and nontoxic products. The biobased materials relate to those products that usually contain substances extracted from biomass and appear naturally or are synthesized. They are extracted from renewable agricultural and forestry feedstocks comprising of woods, grasses, and crops and also include wastes and residues. Biobased materials are somehow observed as possible greener alternate than their petroleum-based counterparts. There are numerous biotechnological processes which depend commonly on plant breeding, fermentation, and conventional enzyme isolation that are employed for the conversion of biomass to value-added products. In recent years, the application of natural biobased materials has acquired high research interests to invent various types of drug delivery systems (DDSs) to handle numerous health-related diseases of high concern. Nowadays, elastic scaffolds play a main role in the production of tissue-engineered scaffolds of elastic tissues like heart valves by utilizing naturally acquired and synthetic materials. These materials may contribute a powerful connection to human health and nature, which is interconnected with recuperative processes that accept developing occupants to recover from physical and psychological stress. Thus, this chapter gives a brief of the impacts caused by biobased materials on the human health.