# Nanotechnology for Tissue Engineering

Authors: Xiaojun Yu; Junping Wang; Yanan Du; Zuwei Ma; Wei He
Journal: Journal of Nanomaterials
 (2011)

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## Body

Due to the tissue and organ shortage, tissue engineering strategies combining
engineering principles and methods and biological sciences in creating implantable
tissues have been viewed as the most promising technologies for regenerating damaged
tissues and organs. As native tissues or organs are composed of proteins within
nanoscale and cells directly interact with nanostructured extracellular matrices
(ECM), nanobiomaterials such as nanofibers, nanotubes, nanoparticles and other
nanofabricated devices with smaller than 100 nm in at least one dimension
are capable of contributing to cell growth and tissue regeneration.The aim of this special issue is to demonstrate the latest achievement of
nanotechnology and its development in tissue engineering field. The eleven research
articles comprising this special issue cover topics including the fabrication,
characterization, and application of nanobiomaterials. Research articles on
biomaterial surface technology, cell-biomaterials interaction and nanobiomaterials
properties are also included in this issue.Electrospinning is a well-established technique aiming at producing ultrafine fibers
by electrically charging a suspended droplet of polymer melt or solution. There are
various kinds of materials that can be electrospun into nanofibrous structures,
which have promising applications in tissue engineering. The first four papers of
this special issue discussed the electrospinning technique for tissue engineering
application. The first paper “Fabrication of biodegradable polyester
nanocomposites by electrospinning for tissue engineering”
reviewed several biodegradable polyester-based nanocomposites for tissue engineering
applications. The second paper “Electrospun collagen: a tissue
engineering scaffold with unique functional properties in a wide variety of
applications” specifically focused on the collagen-based
electrospun nanomaterials with variable applications. The third paper
“Quantitatively controlled fabrication of uniaxially aligned
nanofibrous scaffold for cell adhesion” developed uniaxially
aligned nanofibers via quantitatively controlled fabrication method. The fourth
paper “Electrospinning of poly (ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol)
nanofibres encapsulated with Ag nanoparticles for skin wound
healing” achieved fabrication of an anti-inflammatory nanofibrous
scaffold with the encapsulation of Ag nanoparticles in poly (ethylene-co-vinyl
alcohol) nanofibers.The following two papers are related to surface morphology and micropatterning
technology. Specifically, the fifth paper “Dependence of spreading
and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells on micropatterned surface
area” discussed the effect of micropatterning technology on the
differentiation of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The sixth paper
“Surface modification of titanium with heparin-chitosan
multilayers via layer-by-layer self-assembly technique” showed
a surface modification method via chitosan-heparin layer-by-layer self-assembly
technique.In the seventh paper, “Particle size control of1/2O3:Eu3+prepared via a coconut water-assisted sol-gel
method,” a type of Eu3+-doped Y2O3
nanoparticle was produced through protein sol-gel technique and the adjustment of pH
was tested in order to control the particle size of the powders. In the eighth
paper, “BN nanoparticles/Si3N4wave-transparent composites with high strength and low
dielectric constant,” the addition of the BNnp/Si3N4 nanoparticles improved the dielectric properties of BNnp/Si3N4 composites and decreased the mechanical properties. The ninth and tenth
papers “Analysis of carbon nanotubes on the mechanical properties at
atomic scale”and“Some observations on carbon
nanotubes susceptibility to cell phagocytosis” discussed the
carbon nanotubes in terms of their mechanical properties and their susceptibility to
cell phagocytosis. The eleventh paper “Enhanced photocatalytic
activity for degradation of methyl orange over silica-titania”
reported a method of constructing silica-modified titania (SMT) powders with
enhanced photocatalytic activity.



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