Nanocarbons in Electrospun Polymeric Nanomats for Tissue Engineering: A Review

Abstract

Abstract:Electrospinning is a versatile process technology, exploited for the production of fibers with varying diameters, ranging from nano-to micro-scale, particularly useful for a wide range of applications. Among these, tissue engineering is particularly relevant to this technology since electrospun fibers offer topological structure features similar to the native extracellular matrix, thus providing an excellent environment for the growth of cells and tissues. Recently, nanocarbons have been emerging as promising fillers for biopolymeric nanofibrous scaffolds. In fact, they offer interesting physicochemical properties due to their small size, large surface area, high electrical conductivity and ability to interface/interact with the cells/tissues. Nevertheless, their biocompatibility is currently under debate and strictly correlated to their surface characteristics, in terms of chemical composition, hydrophilicity and roughness. Among the several nanofibrous scaffolds prepared by electrospinning, biopolymer/nanocarbons systems exhibit huge potential applications, since they combine the features of the matrix with those determined by the nanocarbons, such as conductivity and improved bioactivity. Furthermore, combining nanocarbons and electrospinning allows designing structures with engineered patterns at both nano-and microscale level. This article presents a comprehensive review of various types of electrospun polymer-nanocarbon currently used for tissue engineering applications. Furthermore, the differences among graphene, carbon nanotubes, nanodiamonds and fullerenes and their effect on the ultimate properties of the polymer-based nanofibrous scaffolds is elucidated and critically reviewed.

Nucleation of the β-polymorph in Composites of Poly(propylene) and Graphene Nanoplatelets

“…We show a correlation between mixing, depending on extruder type, and the β-nucleating efficiency of GNP. As research efforts on functional composites with carbon additives continue to increase unabated for a range of diverse applications (e.g., automotive, electronics, tissue engineering) [20][21][22][23], it is essential to understand the effects of processing on the properties of the final composites. Therefore, this study aimed to correlate the effect of GNP addition on the crystallization behavior of PP and understand the role that the processing conditions employed in composite preparation play in inducing PP crystallization.…”

Electrospun Fibers for Recruitment and Differentiation of Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine

“…The dual effect of the drug played an important role. The Initial release of dexamethasone leads to osteogenesis of MSCs followed by the simultaneous release of BMP‐2 after a couple of weeks which led to bone formation . Another example demonstrates the therapeutic bone scaffolds with core‐shell nanofiber delivering two growth factors, FGF‐2 and FGF‐18 in a sequential manner for bone regeneration.…”

“…The Initial release of dexamethasone leads to osteogenesis of MSCs followed by the simultaneous release of BMP-2 after a couple of weeks which led to bone formation. [24] Another example demonstrates the therapeutic bone scaffolds with core-shell nanofiber delivering two growth factors, FGF-2 and FGF-18 in a sequential manner for bone regeneration. The initial release of FGF-2 initiates angiogenesis followed by the release of FGF-18 which induces osteogenesis at a later stage.…”

Hemocompatibility of Carbon Nanostructures

“…Due to their outstanding physical, chemical, mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties [1], CNs are extremely attractive for a wide range of applications in electronics, optoelectronics, sensing, mechanics, construction, automotive, and aerospace fields [2][3][4][5]. In the biomedical field CNs have been proposed for a number of theragnostic applications [6,7], including biosensing [8], imaging [9,10], hyperthermal cancer therapy, stem cell therapy, tissue engineering [11][12][13], drug and gene delivery. Due to their small size, high specific surface area, and easy surface functionalization, NDs, CDs, CFs, CNTs, and GBNs have shown promising results as transporting systems for the administration of proteins, nucleic acids, and pharmaceutical compounds [14][15][16][17], and have demonstrated to successfully increase the efficacy of distribution and cell uptake of poorly permeating molecules.…”