The potential of nanotechnology in bone repair: a critical review

Nanomaterials represent a promising class of biomaterials capable of mimicking natural bone morphology, thus helping to enable osseointegration during bone repair procedures, wherein the repair interfaces with surrounding bone. Owing to their nanoscale characteristics, these biomaterials are the primary candidates to replace missing bone. The main objective of the review is to investigate how nanomaterials may constitute innovative solutions for existing difficulties in bone repair strategies. The conventional methods often fail when faced with several major setbacks, such as inadequate cellular differentiation, insufficient osteogenic factor production, and poor mechanical properties in the process of bone regeneration, while nanomaterials can be used in creating bone tissue engineering scaffolds using novel techniques such as electrospinning and 3D bio-printing. Nanotechnology led to the creation of scaffolds that enhance bone regeneration through natural extracellular matrix-like mimicking, stimulate angiogenesis via controlled bioactive molecule delivery, and enhance tissue integration. Therefore, this review starts with nanomaterials and their importance and moves towards the role of nanomaterials in the design of bone tissue engineering scaffolds. Then, the important types of applied nanomaterials in bone tissue repair are discussed, and case studies are collected in this regard. In the following, the methods of manufacturing nanomaterial-based scaffolds are mentioned, and electrospinning and 3D printing are introduced as the most advanced approaches. Finally, the current challenges in preparing and producing nanomaterial scaffolds and future trends are discussed for use in bone tissue engineering.