Scaffolds Fabricated from Natural Polymers/Composites by Electrospinning for Bone Tissue Regeneration

Naturally bone is a hierarchical and highly integrative dynamic tissue that is continuously remodeled by osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Deformities in bone due to trauma and/or disease are highly prevalent and mostly need surgical intervention. However, the methods of surgical treatments are associated with donor site morbidity, infection and/or complete rejection. Bone tissue-engineering provides a platform for growth of new bone tissue by fabricating scaffolds along with cells, growth factors and other dynamic forces. The polymeric materials especially natural polymers in their nanofibrous forms have been developed and introduced for bone tissue regeneration. At the nanoscale, natural polymers possess tunable properties and can be surface functionalized or blended with other polymers to provide juncture for cell-seeding, proliferation, differentiation and further resulting in regenerated tissue formation. These scaffolds fabricated from natural polymers and additives by electrospinning are bio-inspired to mimic the natural extracellular matrix resembling the native collagen of bone. This chapter focuses on the fabrication techniques as state of art nanofibrous scaffolds from natural polymers/additives during the recent years by the process of electrospinning for use in bone tissue regeneration. Further on, this chapter highlights the development in the scaffold fabrication from natural polymers like silk fibroin, chitosan, collagen, gelatin, cellulose, starch and, zein. The importance of add-on materials like stem cells, hydroxyapatite, apatite-wollanstonite, growth factors, osteogenic cells, bone morphogenic proteins and osteogenic drugs have been discussed and illustrated by various examples for enhancing the formation of new bone tissue. Furthermore, this chapter explains how these natural polymers influence the several signaling pathways to regulate bone regeneration.