The growing merits and dwindling limitations of bacterial cellulose-based tissue engineering scaffolds

Publication date: June 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 24Author(s): Maren Roman, Alexander P Haring, Timothy J BertucioSince its commercialization in the late 1980s and the concurrent emergence of the field of tissue engineering, bacterial cellulose (BC) has attracted growing attention as a tissue engineering scaffold. It is commonly accepted that tissue scaffolds for implantation into the human body should be biocompatible, that is, non-toxic and non-immunogenic, biodegradable, and biomimetic, that is, mimic the tissue closely in structure and performance. In addition, ideal tissue scaffolds are bioactive, that is, stimulate and guide cell differentiation and tissue regeneration. This review evaluates BC according to these scaffold criteria and highlights recent approaches toward improved functionality. Advances in biotechnology, in situ templating, and surface engineering are paving the way toward biodegradable, microporous, bioactive BC scaffolds, tipping the balance of merits and limitations in favor of its widespread use in biomedical applications.
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research