Electrospun Composite S tructures for Tissue Engineering:Challenges and Ppportunities

Electrospun nanofibers for tissue engineering applications facetwo main challenges. The low thickness of electrospun matsand limited cell penetration. The low thickness is the mainreason for their weak load-bearing performance at clinical applicationsand the limited cell penetration is due to their lowfiber-fiber dis tance during deposition process of nanofibers oncollector at electrospinning. We have developed different s trategiesfor improving these limitations of electrospun nanofibersin tissue engineering cons tructs by developing composites tructures from different natural and synthetic biopolymers.Fabrication of multi-layered nanofibrous ۳D scaffolds comprisingchondroitin sulfate by electrospinning method and attachinglayers via non-solvent procedure is introduced as an effectivemethod to enhance the applicability of nanofibers for tissue regenerationapplications. While nanofibers prepare an ECM-like subs trate for cell attachment and proliferation, the gap betweenlayers provides sufficient cellular infiltration and neovascularization.Core/shell composite nanofibers is another sugges tionwhich could offer significant advantages over monolithic fibersespecially for enhancing the mechanical performances. Differentnature of core/shell s tructured nanofibers admits the on-demandfeatures in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and dressingapplications.