Development and characterization of Polycaprolactone/chitosan-based scaffolds for tissue engineering of various organs: A review.

Research in creating 3D structures mirroring the extracellular matrix (ECM) with accurate environmental cues holds paramount significance in biological applications.Biomaterials that replicate ECM properties-mechanical, physicochemical, and biological-emerge as pivotal tools in mimicking ECM behavior.Incorporating synthetic and natural biomaterials is widely used to produce scaffolds suitable for the intended organs.Polycaprolactone (PCL), a synthetic biomaterial, boasts commendable mechanical properties, albeit with relatively modest biological attributes due to its hydrophobic nature.Chitosan (CTS) exhibits strong biological traits but lacks mechanical resilience for complex tissue regeneration.Notably, both PCL and CTS have demonstrated their application in tissue engineering for diverse types of tissues.Their combination across varying PCL:CTS ratios has increased the likelihood of fabricating scaffolds to address defects in sturdy and pliable tissues.This comprehensive analysis aspires to accentuate their distinct attributes within tissue engineering across different organs.The central focus resides in the role of PCL:CTS-based scaffolds, elucidating their contribution to the evolution of advanced functional 3D frameworks tailored for tissue engineering across diverse organs.Moreover, this discourse delves into the considerations pertinent to each organ.

Employing hydrogels in tissue engineering approaches to boost conventional cancer-based research and therapies.

Cancer is a complicated disease that involves the efforts of researchers to introduce and investigate novel successful treatments. Traditional cancer therapy approaches, especially chemotherapy, are prone to possible systemic side effects, such as the dysfunction of liver or kidney, neurological side effects and a decrease of bone marrow activity. Hydrogels, along with tissue engineering techniques, provide tremendous potential for scientists to overcome these issues through the release of drugs at the site of tumor. Hydrogels demonstrated competency as potent and stimulus-sensitive drug delivery systems for tumor removal, which is attributed to their unique features, including high water content, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. In addition, hydrogels have gained more attention as 3D models for easier and faster screening of cancer and tumors due to their potential in mimicking the extracellular matrix. Hydrogels as a reservoir can be loaded by an effective dosage of chemotherapeutic agents, and then deliver them to targets. In comparison to conventional procedures, hydrogels considerably decreased the total cost, duration of research, and treatment time. This study provides a general look into the potential role of hydrogels as a powerful tool to augment cancer studies for better analysis of cancerous cell functions, cell survival, angiogenesis, metastasis, and drug screening. Moreover, the upstanding application of drug delivery systems related to the hydrogel in order to sustain the release of desired drugs in the tumor cell-site were explored.