TY - JOUR
T1 - Hijacking Plant Skeletons for Biomedical Applications
T2 - From Regenerative Medicine and Drug Delivery to Biosensing
AU - Asadian, Elham
AU - Abbaszadeh, Samin
AU - Ghorbani, Fatemeh
AU - Rezaei, Saman
AU - Santos, Helder Almeida
AU - Xiao, Bo
AU - Shahbazi, Mohammad-Ali
PY - 2025/1
Y1 - 2025/1
N2 - The field of biomedical engineering continually seeks innovative technologies to address complex healthcare challenges, ranging from tissue regeneration to drug delivery and biosensing. Plant skeletons offer promising opportunity for these applications due to their unique hierarchical structures, desirable porosity, inherent biocompatibility, and adjustable mechanical properties. This review comprehensive discusses chemical principles underlying the utilization of plant-based scaffolds in biomedical engineering. Highlighting their structural integrity, tunable properties, and possibility of chemical modification, the review explores diverse preparation strategies to tailor plant skeleton properties for bone, neural, cardiovascular, skeletal muscle, and tendon tissue engineering. Such applications stem from the cellulosic three-dimensional structure of different parts of plants, which can mimic the complexity of native tissues and extracellular matrices, providing an ideal environment for cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. We also discuss the application of plant skeletons as carriers for drug delivery due to their structural diversity and versatility in encapsulating and releasing therapeutic agents with controlled kinetics. Furthermore, we present the emerging role of plant-derived materials in biosensor development for diagnostic and monitoring purposes. Challenges and future directions in the field are also discussed, offering insights into the opportunities for future translation of sustainable plant-based technologies to address critical healthcare needs.
AB - The field of biomedical engineering continually seeks innovative technologies to address complex healthcare challenges, ranging from tissue regeneration to drug delivery and biosensing. Plant skeletons offer promising opportunity for these applications due to their unique hierarchical structures, desirable porosity, inherent biocompatibility, and adjustable mechanical properties. This review comprehensive discusses chemical principles underlying the utilization of plant-based scaffolds in biomedical engineering. Highlighting their structural integrity, tunable properties, and possibility of chemical modification, the review explores diverse preparation strategies to tailor plant skeleton properties for bone, neural, cardiovascular, skeletal muscle, and tendon tissue engineering. Such applications stem from the cellulosic three-dimensional structure of different parts of plants, which can mimic the complexity of native tissues and extracellular matrices, providing an ideal environment for cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. We also discuss the application of plant skeletons as carriers for drug delivery due to their structural diversity and versatility in encapsulating and releasing therapeutic agents with controlled kinetics. Furthermore, we present the emerging role of plant-derived materials in biosensor development for diagnostic and monitoring purposes. Challenges and future directions in the field are also discussed, offering insights into the opportunities for future translation of sustainable plant-based technologies to address critical healthcare needs.
U2 - 10.1039/D4BM00982G
DO - 10.1039/D4BM00982G
M3 - Review article
SN - 2047-4830
VL - 13
SP - 9
EP - 92
JO - Biomaterials Science
JF - Biomaterials Science
IS - 1
ER -