Nanoparticles in tissue engineering: applications, challenges and prospects

Abstract

Anwarul Hasan,1 Mahboob Morshed,2 Adnan Memic,3 Shabir Hassan,4,5 Thomas J Webster,6 Hany El-Sayed Marei7 1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; 2School of Life Sciences, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), Dhaka, Bangladesh; 3Center of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 4Division of Engineering in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 5Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; 6Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; 7Biomedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar Abstract: Tissue engineering (TE) is an interdisciplinary field integrating engineering, material science and medical biology that aims to develop biological substitutes to repair, replace, retain, or enhance tissue and organ-level functions. Current TE methods face obstacles including a lack of appropriate biomaterials, ineffective cell growth and a lack of techniques for capturing appropriate physiological architectures as well as unstable and insufficient production of growth factors to stimulate cell communication and proper response. In addition, the inability to control cellular functions and their various properties (biological, mechanical, electrochemical and others) and issues of biomolecular detection and biosensors, all add to the current limitations in this field. Nanoparticles are at the forefront of nanotechnology and their distinctive size-dependent properties have shown promise in overcoming many of the obstacles faced by TE today. Despite tremendous progress in the use of nanoparticles over the last 2 decades, the full potential of the applications of nanoparticles in solving TE problems has yet to be realized. This review presents an overview of the diverse applications of various types of nanoparticles in TE applications and challenges that need to be overcome for nanotechnology to reach its full potential. Keywords: nanoparticles, tissue engineering, antibacterial applications, mechanotransduction, gene delivery

Keywords

• Nanoparticles
• Tissue Engineering
• Antibacterial Applications
• Mechanotransduction
• Gene Delivery