Nanotechnology Applications for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Tissue engineering scaffold is developed for repair or replacement of the damaged or defective tissue. It is often made of polymers, ceramics, and/or metals. Natural polymers have widespread application in scaffold fabrication due to their pore forming ability, biodegradable and biocompatible characteristics which are essential for biological repair, and development without the complication of toxicity issue. Chitosan is a linear randomly distributed, binary heteropolysaccharide consisting of β(1–4) linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-β-d-glucopyranose and 2-amino-2-deoxy-β-d-glycopyranose units. It is popularly used as a biomaterial for tissue engineering scaffold. The chitosan can be used alone or coformulated with nanobioactive glass, nanocalcium phosphate, poly(lactide), poly(lactide-co-glycolide), nanohydroxyapatite, collagen, starch, acrylate species and others into the forms of microsphere, hydrogel, nanofiber, and porous scaffolds. This chapter reviews the use of chitosan and its development as scaffolds for bone and skin tissue engineering. It highlights the fabrication techniques, biological evaluation, and performance outcome of these scaffolds in tissue repair.