Biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds enhancing bone regeneration

Population aging, bone diseases and accidents result in a large number of patients with serious bone loss and defects. The efficient bone tissue repair and regeneration have been important topics in clinical medicine. Here, biomedical materials play an important role in bone regeneration. However, current clinical bone-repair biomaterials such as autografts, allografts and synthetic materials (metals, ceramics and polymers) suffer from various shortcomings, having limited applications in bone repair. In bone tissue engineering research, biodegradable scaffolds along with cells and growth factors have shown high potential in facilitating bone regeneration as a potential new therapy for bone loss in the clinic. In the past decade, due to their structure and morphology that mimic the native extracellular matrix, nanofibrous scaffolds have been shown to be capable of facilitating cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation of stem cells, and bone regeneration in vivo compared to control scaffolds. In this paper, we will review the fabrication technologies of biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds and their applications in enhancing cellular function, osteogenic differentiation, and bone tissue regeneration.