Nanofibers for Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery

Electrospinning is a widely established polymer processing technology which allows generation of fibers (in nanometer to micrometer size) that can be collected to form non-woven structures. By choosing a suitable polymer and appropriate solvent system, fiber size can be controlled.  Since the technology allows the possibility of tailoring the mechanical properties and biological properties, there has been a significant effort to adapt the technology in tissue regeneration and drug delivery.  This abstract focuses on recent developments in adapting this technology for tissue regeneration applications.  In particular, different configurations of nozzles and collector plates are summarized from the view of cell seeding and distribution.  With the possibility of obtaining structures with large pore sizes cell infiltration to layers below the surface is possible.  Further developments in obtaining thick layers of tissues and thin layered membranes are discussed.  In addition, possibility of developing a simple 3D system using electrosprayed fibers is described.