Nanocellulose in biomedicine: Current status and future prospect

• Published in: European polymer journal Vol. 59; pp. 302 - 325
• Main Authors: Lin, Ning, Dufresne, Alain
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Bacteria; Bacterial cellulose; Biocompatibility; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical application; Biomedical materials; Bones; Cellulose; Cellulose and derivatives; Cellulose nanocrystals; Cellulose nanofibrils; Enzymes; Exact sciences and technology; General pharmacology; Medical sciences; Nanostructure; Natural polymers; Pharmaceutical technology. Pharmaceutical industry; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Physicochemistry of polymers; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgical implants; Technology. Biomaterials. Equipments; Bacterial cellulose; Cellulose nanofibrils; Cellulose nanocrystals; Biomedical application; Biological properties; State of the art; Cellulose; Nanostructured materials; Medical application
• ISSN: 0014-3057; 1873-1945
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2014.07.025

[Display omitted] •CNC, MFC, and BC are intensively studied in biomedical application.•Production, physical, chemical and biological properties of nanocellulose are covered.•Specific studies on biomedical applications are described based on seven aspects.•Functional modification for potential biomedical application is critically reviewed. Nanocellulose, a unique and promising natural material extracted from native cellulose, has gained much attention for its use as biomedical material, because of its remarkable physical properties, special surface chemistry and excellent biological properties (biocompatibility, biodegradability and low toxicity). Three different types of nanocellulose, viz. cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and bacterial cellulose (BC), are introduced and compared in terms of production, properties and biomedical applications in this article. The advancement of nanocellulose-based biomedical materials is summarized and discussed on the analysis of latest studies (especially reports from the past five years). Selected studies with significant findings are emphasized, and focused topics for nanocellulose in biomedicine research in this article include the discussion at the level of molecule (e.g. tissue bioscaffolds for cellular culture; drug excipient and drug delivery; and immobilization and recognition of enzyme/protein) as well as at the level of macroscopic biomaterials (e.g. blood vessel and soft tissue substitutes; skin and bone tissue repair materials; and antimicrobial materials). Functional modification of nanocellulose will determine the potential biomedical application for nanocellulose, which is also introduced as a separated section in the article. Finally, future perspectives and possible research points are proposed in Section 5.