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Review
. 2015:2015:821279.
doi: 10.1155/2015/821279. Epub 2015 Oct 4.

Chitosan and Its Potential Use as a Scaffold for Tissue Engineering in Regenerative Medicine

Martin Rodríguez-Vázquez  1 , Brenda Vega-Ruiz  1 , Rodrigo Ramos-Zúñiga  1 , Daniel Alexander Saldaña-Koppel  1 , Luis Fernando Quiñones-Olvera  1
Affiliations
Review

Chitosan and Its Potential Use as a Scaffold for Tissue Engineering in Regenerative Medicine

Martin Rodríguez-Vázquez et al. Biomed Res Int. 2015.

Abstract

Tissue engineering is an important therapeutic strategy to be used in regenerative medicine in the present and in the future. Functional biomaterials research is focused on the development and improvement of scaffolding, which can be used to repair or regenerate an organ or tissue. Scaffolds are one of the crucial factors for tissue engineering. Scaffolds consisting of natural polymers have recently been developed more quickly and have gained more popularity. These include chitosan, a copolymer derived from the alkaline deacetylation of chitin. Expectations for use of these scaffolds are increasing as the knowledge regarding their chemical and biological properties expands, and new biomedical applications are investigated. Due to their different biological properties such as being biocompatible, biodegradable, and bioactive, they have given the pattern for use in tissue engineering for repair and/or regeneration of different tissues including skin, bone, cartilage, nerves, liver, and muscle. In this review, we focus on the intrinsic properties offered by chitosan and its use in tissue engineering, considering it as a promising alternative for regenerative medicine as a bioactive polymer.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of chitosan [poly-(β-1/4)-2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranose].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Macroscopic photographs (a) and micrographs (SEM) ((b) and (c)) of porous chitosan scaffold. Micrographs show low and high magnification.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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