Emergence of Plant-Based Decellularized Scaffolds for Tissue Regeneration: A Review

A scaffold is a major requirement in tissue engineering which can mimic the targeted site of an injury and can give support to the cells to adhere and proliferate by allowing the exchange of nutrients and other growth factors. So, in tissue engineering, creating a good scaffold is a major task. Nowadays, people are making synthetic or biocomposite scaffolds using polymers like polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene glycol (PEG), and polycaprolactone (PCL) and some natural polymers like cellulose, chitosan, and chitin. These natural polymers are extracted from a plant source or animal source. Extraction of natural polymers from a natural source is somewhat expensive. So, in this review, we have discussed the methodology for the making of scaffolds directly from natural materials without extracting any substance from them, and the possible plant materials from which we can develop a scaffold. This analysis reveals that decellularization is one of the most prominent methods employed for scaffold preparation. Additionally, various characterization methods which are used for the determination of a good scaffold, like swelling nature, biodegradability, porosity, surface morphology, mechanical strength, and some other methods are also discussed. Later, we have discussed different analytical techniques like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and UV spectroscopy for further chemical analysis and cell adherence determination of the scaffold to test whether it is capable of creating a good environment for the cell to grow and proliferate.