Biomedical Applications of Nanofiber

Composites

Presented by Sudipto Behera

M.Tech in Chemical processing in Textile
Department of Textile Technology
Roll no : 11014720003
REG. NO. : 201100414710005
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INTRODUCTION
• What is nanotechnology?
The formal definition of nanotechnology from the National
Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is:

Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter

at dimensions between approximately 1 and 100
nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel
applications.

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INTRODUCTION CONT.
What is different at the Nanoscale?
 Materials whose dimensions are confined at the
nanoscale display novel optical, electrical,
mechanical, and chemical properties in comparison
to the same material at the larger, bulk scale. These
nanomaterials, which enable nanotechnology, are
expected to deliver products of superior mechanical
strength, higher computational speed, and increased
efficiency.

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Nanotechnology a multidisciplinary approach

Nanotechnology is a highly interdisciplinary

study, embracing concepts from chemistry,
physics, molecular biology, materials science,
electrical and mechanical engineering,
applied mathematics, and computer science.
Nanotechnology lies at the intersection of
these scientific and engineering disciplines.

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Classification of nanomaterials
• Classification is based on the number of dimensions, which are
not confined to the nanoscale range (<100 nm).
• (1) zero-dimensional (0-D),
• (2) one-dimensional (1-D),
• (3) two-dimensional (2-D), and
• (4) three-dimensional (3-D).

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Classification of nanomaterials

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Types of nanoparticles

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Synthesis of nanomaterials
• The methods are divided into two main types, "bottom up approach"
and "top down approach".
• Bottom up approach : This methods involve the assembly of atoms or
molecules into nanostructured arrays. In these methods the raw
material sources can be in the form of gases, liquids or solids. 
• Top down approach : Top down methods adopt some 'force' (e. g.
mechanical force, laser) to break bulk materials into nanoparticles.

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Synthesis of nanomaterials

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Top-down-and-bottom-up-synthesis-of-
nanofabrication_fig1_277574475
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Applications of nanotechnology
Nanotechnology has widespread
applications in a variety of fields
ranging from communications,
medicine, computation, energy
production and storage,
environmental conservation, and
warfare. 

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Biomedical application of nanotechnology

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Nanofiber
• What is nanofiber?
Nanofibers are fibers with diameter in the range of 1
to 100 nanometers.

• Biomedical applications of nanofibers :

They are widely used in various biomedical
applications such as drug delivery, gene
delivery, cell therapy, cancer therapy, tissue
engineering, and regenerative medicine.

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What are nanofibers made of?
• The Synthetic polymer nanofibers are made from nylon, acrylic,
polycarbonate, polysulfide's, and fluoropolymers among other
polymers. The biological polymer nanofibers are made from materials
such as polycaprolactum, chitosan, polylactic acid, and copolymer of
polylactic/glycolic acid among other biopolymers.

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 Nanofiber composites

Nanofiber composites are the engineered

materials composed of two or more distinct
phases combined to impart new and desirable
physical, chemical, and/or biological
properties, which will have bulk properties
significantly different form those of any of the
constituent phases.

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 Classification of Nano fibre composites
The nanofiber composites can be broadly classified into three types with
respect to matrix constituent, namely;
• polymer matrix composites (PCL/carbon nanofibers, for example),
• ceramic matrix composites (HAp/alumina nanofibers, for example)
• metal matrix composites (silver/PLA nanofibers, for example).

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Continuous growth of nanofiber composites
in the field of biomedical applications

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Fabrication methods of nanofiber composites
The nanofiber composites can be fabricated using various techniques,
such as electrospinning, self-assembly, template synthesis, and phase-
separation. Among them, electrospinning is the most widely used
method, probably due to its ability to lend itself to large-scale
production, its relative ease of fabrication and tunable structure, and
the properties of the resultant fibers being suitable for various
biomedical applications.

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Electrospinning

Electrospinning is a fiber
production method which uses
electric force to draw charged
threads of polymer solutions or
polymer melts up to fiber
diameters in the order of some
hundred nanometers.

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List of nanofiber composite and their biomedical applications

Nanofiber Fabrication Fiber diameter Application

composite method (nm)
PVP/Zein
PVP/Zein Coaxial
Coaxial ES
ES 730 190 Drug
Drug delivery
delivery
PVA/
PVA/ Chitason
Chitason ES
ES 130 – 210 Drug
Drug delivery
delivery
PMMA/PVA/PEO/chitosan
PMMA/PVA/PEO/chitosan ES
ES 855 ± 140 Drug
Drug delivery
delivery
PCL/PEG
PCL/PEG Coaxial
Coaxial ES
ES 270–380 Tissue
Tissue engineering
engineering
PEI/pBMP2/PLGA
PEI/pBMP2/PLGA Coaxial
Coaxial ES
ES - Bone
Bone tissue
tissue engineering
engineering
NSF/PCL/nHAP
NSF/PCL/nHAP ES
ES 449–462 Bone
Bone tissue
tissue engineering
engineering
PU/CA/Zein
PU/CA/Zein ES
ES 400-700 Wound
Wound dressing
dressing
PVA/SF
PVA/SF ES
ES 633 Wound
Wound dressing
dressing
PEO/PCL
PEO/PCL ES
ES - Cancer
Cancer therapy
therapy
PLGA/PEO
PLGA/PEO ES
ES 200 Cancer
Cancer therapy
therapy
Col/PLA/PCL
Col/PLA/PCL ES
ES 100-200 Blood
Blood vessel
vessel regeneration
regeneration

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 Drug Delivery applications of nanofibres
• The main goal of developing drug delivery systems is to efficiently
deliver the drug molecules, within the recommended therapeutic level,
to the target cell, tissue, or organ for a defined period of time.
• There are numerous methodologies, and carrier systems have been
successfully developed and tested for drug delivery. Among the many
forms of carrier systems, nanofiber composites have recently proved to
be a versatile carrier system for drug delivery applications due to their
remarkable properties such as high loading capacity, high
encapsulation efficiency, target-specific, prolonged delivery of drugs,
and ease of operation.

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Drug Delivery applications of nanofibers
cont.
• In most cases, polymer nanofiber composites are being used as a
candidate vehicle to carry the drug molecules.
• The nanofiber composites in combination with nanoparticles have been
tested as carrier systems for drug delivery applications due to their
ability to improve bioavailability of the drug by enhancing its solubility,
increased half-life of the drug, better targeting efficiency, and so on.
These nanoparticle-loaded nanofiber composites have been successfully
demonstrated to perform the dual role of drug delivery as well as
wound dressing

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Drug Delivery applications of nanofibers
cont.

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Tissue engineering applications of nanofibres
• What is tissue engineering?
Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a
combination of cells, engineering, materials methods, and suitable
biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintain, improve,
or replace different types of biological tissues.
The nanofibers are often used as a scaffold system for various
tissue engineering applications wherein encapsulation of cells within
their fibrous network is an approach that mimics the native cellular
microenvironment. Among the nanofiber-based scaffolding systems,
nanofiber composites are the most recent and popular choice as
carriers for site-specific cell-delivery as well as for engineering
tissues and organs. 23
Tissue engineering applications of nanofibres
Skin
blood Bone
vessel

Vascular
cartilage
tissue
Tissue
engineering

Cardiac
Tendon
tissue

Neural Skeletal
tissue muscle
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Cancer therapy
• Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases, which has shown
continuously increased incidence and mortality rates
worldwide.
• According to the National Cancer Registry Programme of the
India Council of Medical Research (ICMR), more than 1300
Indians die every day due to cancer. Between 2012 and 2014,
the mortality rate due to cancer increased by approximately 6%.

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Worldwide cancer death rate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_cancer#/media/File:Malignant_ne
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oplasms_world_map_-_Death_-_WHO2004.svg
Cancer therapy applications of nanofiber
The nanofiber composite mediated drug delivery technology significantly
improves the targeting ability of drugs, the prolonged exposure of the
drug to the cancerous cells, and it also improves solubility of water-
insoluble drugs. For instance, anticancer drug-loaded nanofiber
composites have shown a sustained and prolonged release of antitumor
drugs in vitro, confirming their promising results for cancer treatment.
All the experimental examples discussed in this section, and other
published studies, clearly suggest there is a hope for nanofiber
composites, in combination with drugs, as a potential candidate for the
treatment of cancer.

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Gang et al showed enhanced effects
on the intracellular drug
daunorubicin uptake of the
leukemia K562 cell lines by using
novel PLA nanofibers and
tetraheptylammonium-capped
Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles.

Presence of leukemia K562 cells (A) leukemia K562 cells in the

presence of daunorubicin (DNR) (B), PLA nanofibers (C), and DNR
and PLA nanofibers (D), respectively.

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Wound healing
• Wound healing is a complex and dynamic process by which skin or
other body tissue repairs itself after injury.
• However, the prevalence of chronic wounds necessitates the
development of new wound healing products, which aids in the faster
healing of wounds and the proper functioning of human organ
systems.
• Among the many options, the electrospun nanofiber composites have
shown great promise for formulating wound healing products.

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Who is at risk for a non-healing wound?

• Diabetes, anemia, cancer and other long-term medical conditions.

• Heart issues, such as high blood pressure, heart disease or varicose
veins.
• Immobility, such as being confined to a wheelchair or bed.
• Unhealthy habits such as smoking, not eating a healthy diet or not
being active.
• A weak immune system from chemotherapy, immunosuppressive
medications, or medical conditions such as AIDS.
• A history of ulcers.

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characteristics of an ideal wound dressing
material
• hemostatic efficiency
• bacterial barrier
• absorption of exudates
• Moisture maintenance
• space for adequate gas exchange,
• ease of removal and
• low cost

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Wound healing cont.
• One of the most common approaches includes the blending of
polymers with antibacterial nanoparticles that could act
synergistically to prevent microbial infection at the wound site.
• For example, nanofiber composites made of silver
nanoparticles/chitosanoligosaccharide/polyvinylalcohol have been
reported to activate TGFβ1/Smad, a signaling pathway that further
initiates the signaling cascade by the expression of cytokines involved
in wound healing .

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Wound healing cont.

(A) Patient with diabetic foot. (B) Approximately 72

cm2 diabetic foot ulcer on
the dorsum of the left foot. (B) Debreiment of the
wound and acellular dermal matrix scaffold
cover. (C) 10 days after initial treatment with the
scaffold, prepared for skin graft. (D)
grafting of slipt-thickness autologous skin sheet. (E)
postoperative month 3, (F) month 33

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Conclusion
• Nanofibers are widely used for biomedical applications.
• Nanofiber composites made of highly biocompatible and tunable mechanical
and biodegradable materials show great potential in drug delivery, tissue
engineering, stem cells, cancer therapy, and wound healing.
• However, clinical application of these nanofiber composites is very limited as
compared to conventional nanofibers and the field is still in its very early stages.
• With so many advantage nanofibers also have some disadvantages The large-
scale production of nanofibers with such characteristics is still a challenging task
as the widely used electrospinning techniques have some drawbacks, namely,
low yield, high operating voltage, and difficulty in attaining in situ deposition of
nanofibers on different substrates.

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References
• Gang et al. Novel nanocomposite of nano Fe3O4 and polylactide nanofibers for application in drug
uptake and induction of cell death of leukemia cancer cells. Langmuir 2008; 24(5):2151–6.

• Nanoparticles in Medicine: A Focus on Vascular Oxidative Stress M. D. Mauricio,1 S. Guerra-Ojeda,1

P. Marchio,1 S. L. Valles,1 M. Aldasoro ,1 I. Escribano-Lopez,2 J. R. Herance,3 M. Rocha,2 J. M. Vila ,1
and V. M. Victor 1,2
• https://omninano.org/the-challenge-of-defining-nanotechnology-to-a/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanomaterials

• Applications of core-shell nanofibers: Drug and biomolecules release and gene therapy Zeynep
Aytac and Tamer Uyar
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_cancer#/media/File:Malignant_neoplasms_world_
map_-_Death_-_
WHO2004.svg

• Nanofiber Composites for Biomedical Applications 1st Edition Authors: Murugan

Ramalingam Seeram Ramakrishna . 35
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