Publication

Abstract : In the past three decades, many types of electrospun fibers have been developed and utilized for innumerable tissue engineering applications. Precisely, in the area of bone tissue engineering, composite bone grafts are being employed to overcome the limitations associated with autografts, allografts, and xenografts. A composite bone graft comprises a polymeric osteoconductive matrix and an osteoinductive or osteogenic material. Moreover, polymeric and ceramic-based engineered nanocomposite fibers developed through electrospinning are relatively similar to composite bone grafts. The polymers offer biocompatibility, resorbability, and flexibility to the nanocomposite fibers. In addition, polymeric matrices provide structural support for cell adhesion and subsequent cellular processes leading to tissue formation, whereas bioactive ceramics provide strength and osteoconductivity to the nanocomposite fibers. An array of ceramic particles such as bioactive glasses, wollastonite, hydroxyapatite, tricalcium phosphate, tetracalcium phosphate, octacalcium phosphate, magnesium silicate, whitlockite, akermanite, carbon nitride, calcium sulfate, and alumina have been explored in bone-specific applications to gain successful outcomes. The current chapter emphasizes the properties, cytocompatibility, and in vivo performance of ceramic-incorporated nanocomposite fibers and fibrous scaffolds in bone tissue engineering applications.