Nanomaterials for Skin Regeneration

Wound healing and its medical complications present a huge burden to health care worldwide. Current tissue engineering materials are far from satisfactory in meeting desirable safety and efficacy. Due to the intricate three-dimensional nanostructure, flexibility in shape design and multifunctional surface modification, advanced nanomaterials offer new hopes for revolutionising modern medicine. The potential of their applications in medical research and clinical practice include diagnosis, treatment, imaging and tissue regeneration. This chapter reviews the progress made in the application of nanomaterials in skin tissue engineering in the last decade. It mainly focuses on materials of biological origins that are biodegradable, non-toxic, and biocompatible with cells at target sites. The characteristics of novel biofunctional scaffolds, safety and future trend of nanomaterial application in tissue engineering are also discussed, aiming to promote continuous research effort in developing scaffold materials for optimisation of skin regeneration.

Keywords: Nanomaterial, scaffold, skin, tissue engineering, wound regeneration.