Electrospun Nanometer to Micrometer Scale Biomimetic Synthetic Membrane Scaffolds in Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering: A Review

Abstract

The scaffold technology research utilizes biomimicry to produce efficient scaffolds that mimic the natural cell growth environment including the basement membrane for tissue engineering. Because the natural basement membrane is composed of fibrillar protein networks of nanoscale diameter, the scaffold produced should efficiently mimic the nanoscale topography at a low production cost. Electrospinning is a technique that can achieve that. This review discusses the physical and chemical characteristics of the basement membrane and its significance on cell growth and overall focuses on nanoscale biomimetic synthetic membrane scaffolds primarily generated using electrospinning and their application in drug delivery and tissue engineering.

Keywords

• basement membrane
• BM
• fiber
• nanofibers
• electrospun
• scaffold