Natural and Synthetic Biopolymeric Biomaterials for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

About 2.2 million bone graft operations are performed per year worldwide to treat bone defects caused by motor defects, congenital disabilities, bone tumors, and other causes. Autografts, allografts, and synthetic grafts are widely used for bone graft substitutes. Even though autograft is the gold standard for treating bone defects, there is a problem with insufficient donor sites and secondary surgical procedures. Therefore, synthetic graft construction has received a lot of attention to mimicking the autograft technique. With the development of artificial synthetic bone graft replacement, biopolymers in combination with bioceramics play an essential role in the construction of bone tissue. In this article, we have discussed the role of polymeric substances, polyglycolic acid, polylactic acid, poly (caprolactone), poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid), chitosan, alginate, cellulose, dextran, hyaluronic acid, pectin, starch, carrageenan, and fucoidan, for bone tissue engineering applications. These polymers in the composite biomaterials have better mechanical properties, improved porosity, enhanced cellular function in gene expression, and biomineral formations for bone tissue engineering applications.