Natural–origin polymers as carriers and scaffolds for biomolecules and cell delivery in tissue engineering applications

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addr.2007.03.012Get rights and content

Abstract

The present paper intends to overview a wide range of natural–origin polymers with special focus on proteins and polysaccharides (the systems more inspired on the extracellular matrix) that are being used in research, or might be potentially useful as carriers systems for active biomolecules or as cell carriers with application in the tissue engineering field targeting several biological tissues. The combination of both applications into a single material has proven to be very challenging though. The paper presents also some examples of commercially available natural–origin polymers with applications in research or in clinical use in several applications. As it is recognized, this class of polymers is being widely used due to their similarities with the extracellular matrix, high chemical versatility, typically good biological performance and inherent cellular interaction and, also very significant, the cell or enzyme-controlled degradability. These biocharacteristics classify the natural–origin polymers as one of the most attractive options to be used in the tissue engineering field and drug delivery applications.

Section snippets

General introduction

Tissue engineering is the promising therapeutic approach that combines cells, biomaterials, and microenvironmental factors to induce differentiation signals into surgically transplantable formats and promote tissue repair and/or functional restoration. Despite many advances, tissue engineers still face significant challenges in repairing or replacing tissues that serve predominantly biomechanical functions such as articular cartilage. One obstacle can be identified as the scaffolds play an

Polyhydroxyalkanoates

In nature, a special group of polyesters is produced by a wide variety of microorganisms as an internal carbon and energy storage, as part of their survival mechanism [278]. Poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) was first mentioned in the scientific literature as early as 1901 [1]. Bacterially synthesized polyhydoxyalkanoates (PHAs) have attract much attention because they can be produced from a variety of renewable resources, and are truly biodegradable and highly biocompatible thermoplastic materials

Final remarks and future directions

Natural origin polymers have received considerable interest for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications. However, the combination of both applications into a single material has proven to be very challenging. This paper reviews the properties of natural–origin materials that render them attractive for applications where the combination of a scaffold material and a carrier for an active biomolecules is desirable. We also review research works were this combination of properties has

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for the PhD Grant to Patrícia B. Malafaya (SFRH/BD/11155/2002), the European STREP HIPPOCRATES (NMP3-CT-2003-505758) and the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283).

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    This review is part of the Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews theme issue on “Matrices and Scaffolds for Drug Delivery in Tissue Engineering”.

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