The Potential of Cellulose Nanocrystals in Tissue Engineering Strategies

Abstract

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are a renewable nanosized raw material that is drawing a tremendous level of attention from the materials community. These rod-shaped nanocrystals that can be produced from a variety of highly available and renewable cellulose-rich sources are endowed with exceptional physicochemical properties which have promoted their intensive exploration as building blocks for the design of a broad range of new materials in the past few decades. However, only recently have these nanosized substrates been considered for bioapplications following the knowledge on their low toxicity and ecotoxicological risk. This Review provides an overview on the recent developments on CNC-based functional biomaterials with potential for tissue engineering (TE) applications, focusing on nanocomposites obtained through different processing technologies usually employed in the fabrication of TE scaffolds into various formats, namely, dense films and membranes, hierarchical three-dimensional (3D) porous constructs (micro/nanofibers mats, foams and sponges), and hydrogels. Finally, while highlighting the major achievements and potential of the reviewed work on cellulose nanocrystals, alternative applications for some of the developed materials are provided, and topics for future research to extend the use of CNCs-based materials in the scope of the TE field are identified.

Surface properties and porosity of highly porous, nanostructured cellulose II particles

“…The distinct properties of nanocelluloses open a wide field of applications in composites (Cai et al 2012;Li et al 2014), insulation (Hayase et al 2014;Kobayashi et al 2014), packaging (Aulin et al 2010;Lavoine et al 2014), tissue engineering (Domingues et al 2014;Markstedt et al 2015) and many other utilization ways (Habibi et al 2010;Lin et al 2012). Nevertheless, drying of nanocelluloses with retention of their unique properties, in particular the high surface areas, remains a difficult and important challenge.…”

Cellulose Nanocrystals as Advanced "Green" Materials for Biological and Biomedical Engineering

“…In in vivo circumstances, various physiological and microenvironmental cues affect cells, regulating their behavior, differentiation, growth, and outcome (Lutolf et al, 2005;Pérez et al, 2013). These physiological cues can be initiated by extracellular matrix (ECM), proteins, various bioactive ingredients, and neighboring cells (Domingues, 2014). In tissue engineering, it is important for any implanted scaffold to mimic the ECM, which displays properties that can actively promote the natural healing and self-repair capacity of the body (Place et al, 2005).…”

“…The hierarchical arrangement of the ECM varies from nano to macro scale; because it is based on tissue type and functions the matrix differs in composition and spatial organization of their respective components, making development of artificial scaffolds more challenging (Kim and Deaton, 2013;Kim et al, 2014). The surface characteristics of scaffolds, such as roughness, topography, porosity, pore size, pore interconnectivity, surface area to volume ratio, and chemistry, all play a pivotal role in tissue engineering (Domingues et al, 2014). Though it is very difficult to mimic the natural ECM environment, various biodegradable and bioactive materials, along with fabrication methodology, have been explored for the development of suitable scaffolds that mimic natural ECMs, such that the attachment, migration, proliferation and differentiation of cells can be facilitated, resulting in desired cellular arrangements (Place et al, 2005).…”

Hybrid MPI-OpenMP Parallelism in the ONETEP Linear-Scaling Electronic Structure Code: Application to the Delamination of Cellulose Nanofibrils

“…39 Cellulose is a polymer of cellobiose monomers and is commonly found in the form of cellulose Iβ nano-fibrils within plant cell walls. Cellulose Iβ nano-fibrils are composed of a number of elementary cellulose chains, the exact number of chains depending upon the biological source.…”

“…Our aim here is to perform a preliminary study of the delamination process which is of fundamental importance for the structural implementations of cellulose nano-fibrils in applications such as tissue engineering 39 and within a wide range of composite materials. 45 As this is a preliminary study, the effects of solvation and structural relaxation are beyond the scope of this paper and we expect to investigate these effects in future work.…”