An update on clinical applications of electrospun nanofibers for skin bioengineering

Figures & data

Figure 1. The fundamental necessities of an electrospinning apparatus.

Table I. Some antimicrobial agents which have been loaded into electrospun nanofibers for wound healing applications.

Antimicrobial	Scaffold material	Electrospinning set-up	References
Gentamycin sulfate	PCL	Co-axial electrospinning	Huang et al. (2006)
Ciprofloxacin HCl	PVA/PVAc	Standard electrospinning	Jannesari et al. (2011)
Tetracycline HCl	PLLA PLLA PLGA, PEUU/TH-PLGA PLA/PEVA	Co-axial electrospinning Standard electrospinning Standard electrospinning Standard electrospinning	He et al. (2006) Zahedi et al. (2012) Hadjiargyrou and Chiu (2008) Kenawy et al. (2002)
Cefazolin	PLGA	Standard electrospinning	Katti et al. (2004)
Fusidic acid	PLGA	Standard electrospinning	Said et al. (2011)
Mefoxin	PLGA/PEG-b-PLA	Standard electrospinning	Kim et al. (2004)
Lidocaine hydrochloride and mupirocin	PLLA	Dual spinneret	Thakur et al. (2008)
Nisin	PEO-PDLLA	Standard electrospinning	Heunis et al. (2013)
Barberine chloride	PVP/PLCL	Co-axial electrospinning	Sun et al. (2010)
Silver nanoparticles	Silk fibroin Gelatin Chitosan/PVA	Chemical modification/Standard electrospinning Chemical modification Standard electrospinning	Uttayarat et al. (2012), Kang et al. (2007) Rujitanaroj et al. (2008) Nguyen et al. (2011)
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles	Silk fibroin	Standard electrospinning	Jao et al. (2012)
zinc oxide (ZnO)	Alginate/poly (vinyl alcohol)	Standard electrospinning	Shalumon et al. (2011)

Table II. Growth factor-conjugated electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds applied in skin tissue-engineering applications.

Scaffold	Growth factor conjugated	Electrospinning set-up	References
Activated platelet-rich plasma	FGF, VEGF, EGF	Blend electrospinning	Bowlin (2011)
PCL–PEG/PCL	EGF	Chemical conjugation	Choi et al. (2008)
PELA (PEG–PLA) Poly(ethylene oxide-co-lactic acid)	bFGF	Core–sheath nanofibers	Yang et al. (2011)
PLLCL (Poly(L-lactic acid-co-poly (ε-caprolactone)	Encapsulated with EGF, insulin, hydrocortisone and retinoic acid	Core–shell nanofibers	Jin et al. (2013b)
Chitosan–PEO poly(lactic-co glycolic acid) nanoparticles	VEGF PDGF-BB	Blend electrospinning encapsulation	Xie et al. (2013)
Collagen (Col)–hyaluronic acid (HA)–gelatin nanoparticles (GNs)	Encapsulated with VEGF, PDGF, bFGF and EGF	Dual spinneret	Lai et al. (2014)
chitosan–poly(ethylene oxide)	platelet-rich plasma	Blend electrospinning	Bertoncelj et al. (2014)
Silk fibroin	EGF	Blend electrospinning	Sukumar et al. (2014)

Table III. Some naturally derived substances conjugated electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds applied in skin tissue-engineering applications.

Alternative naturally derived materials	Properties	Scaffold material	Inference
Honey	Antimicrobial activity because of different features like low pH, production of hydrogen peroxide, and presence of flavonoids	PVA	Honey can be applied as a natural antibiotic to facilitate the wound dressing effectiveness and enhance the healing rate (Maleki et al. 2013).
Aloe vera	A medicinal herb with well-known wound healing properties	PCL	PCL/AV 10% nanofibrous scaffold favored cell proliferation and proved that the nanofibrous scaffold is a potential biomaterial for skin regeneration (Suganya et al. 2014).
Thymol	Natural biocidal agent	PCL; PLA; PCL/PLA	In vivo rat wound-healing test revealed that the electrospun PCL/PLA nanofibers containing thymol had a significant wound-closure percentage (Karami et al. 2013).
Phaeodactylum tricornutum extract	Exhibits anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and free-radical scavenging activities, but the primary interest on the P. tricornutum concerns the high PUFA content	Gelatin	• P. tricornutum-loaded nanofiber scaffold exhibited antimicrobial activity. • Cell viability test revealed that the P. tricornutum-loaded nanofiber has no cytotoxicity (Kwak et al. 2014).
Zein Cellulose acetate	Enhances cell viability and proliferation Exhibits good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and regenerative properties	PU	• Showed increased blood clotting ability • Their presence in nanofiber improved hydrophilicity and bioactivity of PU, and generated a moist environment for the wound (Unnithan et al. 2014).
Emodin, an extract of polygonum cuspidate	Ability to accelerate wound healing	Poly vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)	Wound healing test and histological assessment showed that the emodin-loaded nanofibrous scaffold to be more effective as a wound healer (Dai et al. 2012).
Cinnamaldehyde	A volatile essential oil, eradicates pathogens non-specifically	Chitosan/PEO	The native antibacterial activity of chitosan along with the rapid release of cinnamaldehyde allowed high inactivation rates against E. coli and P. aeruginosa (Rieger and Schiffman 2014).
Garcinia mangostana extract	Exhibits antimicrobial, antiproliferative, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic activity	Chitosan-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid/polyvinyl alcohol (CS-EDTA/PVA)	• The scaffolds display antioxidant and antibacterial activity. • Wound healing test showed that the mats accelerated the rate of healing (Charernsriwilaiwat et al. 2013).
Bletilla striata (BS) extract	A traditional Chinese medicine, a wound healer, aids hemostasis and detumescence	PVA	The resulting dressings from PVA/BS had optimal nanofiber formation, the finest mean of fiber diameter, and the lowest toxicity (Lin et al. 2012).
Indigofera aspalathoides, Azadirachta indica, Memecylon edule (ME), and Myristica andamanica extracts	Medicinal plants with wound healing effects	PCL	• Cell proliferation on PCL/ME nanofibers attained was the highest among all the other electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds. • PCL/ME had the minimum cytotoxicity between the different plant extract-containing scaffolds (Jin et al. 2013a).
Emu oil	Improves wound healing and demonstrates analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial activity	PU	Nanofiber-loaded emu oil provides long-term cell growth as well good antibacterial activity (Unnithan et al. 2012b).

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