Biopolymers for Medical Applications

Abstract

Skin wounds are today a major social and financial burden. WHO has estimated that annually over 300,000 deaths are attributed to burn injuries and 6.5 million individuals suffer from chronic skin ulcers caused by venous status and diabetes mellitus. Thus, the necessity for more suitable wound dressings to promote the skin regeneration by tissue-engineered scaffolds. Moreover, current research has integrated the concept of engineering skin scaffolds, to promote and create a favourable cellular
micro environment at clinical level. These scaffolds, made by synthetic or natural non-woven tissues, have to serve as a platform for cellular localization, adhesion, and differentiation, as well as to guide the development of new functional tissues. At this purpose, biomaterial play a pivotal role to provide three-dimensional templates and synthetic extracellular-matrix environments for tissue
regeneration. It includes novel processing technologies and innovative composites capable to emulate and interact with the extracellular matrix.