Electrospun Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering: A Review

Abstract

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have emerged as innovative approaches to enhance clinical outcomes by addressing tissue lesions and degenerations that can significantly impair organ function. Since human tissues have limited regenerative capacity, the field of regenerative medicine aims to restore damaged tissues and their functionalities. Recent decades have witnessed remarkable progress in materials science, tissue engineering, and medicine, leading to the development of regenerative engineering. This interdisciplinary field has revolutionized the production of artificial matrices, enabling the design of anatomically accurate structures with enhanced biocompatibility, bioabsorption, and cell adhesion. Among the techniques utilized for fabricating cellular scaffolds, the electrospinning of fibers stands out as an ideal approach due to its ability to mimic the characteristics of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Electrospun scaffolds exhibit distinct advantages, including a high surface area-to-volume ratio, exceptional porosity, uniformity, compositional diversity, structural flexibility, and the ease of functionalization with bioactive molecules for controlled release. These versatile properties allow for the creation of nanofiber scaffolds that closely resemble the architecture of the ECM. Consequently, they facilitate the transport of nutrients and oxygen to cells as well as the incorporation of growth factors to stimulate cell growth. These advancements open up a wide range of applications in the field of regenerative medicine.