Potential Application of Polysaccharide-based Aerogel Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering

In recent times, there has been a significant increase in bone-related diseases, posing a pressing challenge in the field of medicine. While bone tissues possess a natural self-healing capability, severe injuries can lead to a loss of this regenerative potential. Traditional transplantation approaches, despite being billion-dollar industries, are riddled with issues such as a scarcity of organ donors, a high risk of infections, and post-transplant complications. To address this issue, tissue engineering has demonstrated to be a possible alternative for wound remodeling and organ transplantation. Recently, biopolymer-based aerogel has caught tremendous attention as a result of its exceptional qualities in the field of biomedical engineering. This review aims to provide comprehensive information on the properties and recent research regarding the use of polysaccharides like chitosan, cellulose, alginate, hyaluronic acid, and starch-based aerogels in bone tissue engineering. It highlights the potential of these aerogels in addressing bone-related issues and discusses the obstacles and future prospects of polysaccharides in tissue engineering applications.