Eleonora Mattioli

Visiting student (University of Pisa, Italy)

Bioactive glass-based scaffolds prepared by electrospinning with addition of phytotherapeutic agents as coating for soft tissue engineering

Supervisors: Karla Faquine, Sena Harmancı and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Tissue engineering (TE) and regenerative medicine represent an alternative approach to the transplant of organs and tissues, given the low availability of donors and the problems associated with rejection. The use of an engineered scaffold as a temporary template for supporting tissue regeneration is of fundamental importance [1]. The scaffold requirements must include biocompatibility, bioactivity, support for cell functions, and producing non-toxic products during biodegradation. The electrospinning technique has been used for the fabrication of nano– and micron-sized fibers for TE scaffolds. The electrospinning process is limited by the use of toxic solvents; for this reason, recently, the idea of “green electrospinning“ involving the use of less or not toxic solvents has emerged [1]. Bioactive glasses (BG) are non-crystalline solids capable of bonding with both hard and soft tissues. To create fibrous scaffolds that replicate the structure of the extracellular matrix, the electrospinning technique is commonly employed by combining polymers with BG. In a similar scenario, the incorporation of bioactive glasses, growth factors, and pharmaceutical compounds has been widely employed. Growth factor-based approaches are often linked with low stability and high costs, while pharmaceutical compounds and nanomaterials may raise cytotoxicity and even drug resistance issues [2].  In this regard, incorporating herbal extracts (phytotherapy medicine) into engineered tissue constructs owing to their bioactivities, environmental-friendly nature, potential nontoxicity, cost-effectiveness, and easy isolation procedures could prevent complications and delays in the tissue repair and regeneration process [2].

[1] Piatti E, Miola M, Liverani L, Verné E, Boccaccini AR. Poly(ε-caprolactone)/bioactive glass composite electrospun fibers for tissue engineering applications. J Biomed Mater Res. 2023;111(11):1692‐1709.

[2] Tarun Agarwal, Sheri-Ann Tan, Valentina Onesto, Jia Xian Law, Garima Agrawal, Sampriti Pal, Wei Lee Lim, Esmaeel Sharifi, Farnaz Dabbagh Moghaddam, Tapas Kumar Maiti, Engineered herbal scaffolds for tissue repair and regeneration: Recent trends and technologies, Biomedical Engineering Advances, Volume 2, 2021,100015, ISSN 2667-0992, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bea.2021.100015.