Biomaterial Scaffolds for Improving Vascularization During Skin Flap Regeneration

Over the past few decades, biomaterials have made rapid advances in tissue engineering.In particular, there have been several studies on vascularization during skin flap regeneration for plastic surgery. From the perspective of function, the biomaterials used to improve the vascularization of skin flaps are primarily classified into two types:(1) electrospun nanofibrous membranes as porous scaffolds, and(2) hydrogels as cell or cytokine carriers. Based on their source, various natural, synthetic, and semi-synthetic biomaterials have been developed with respective characteristics. For the ischemic environment of the flap tissue, the therapeutic effect of the combination of biomaterials was better than that of drugs, cytokines, and cells alone. Biomaterials could improve cell migration, prolong the efficacy of cytokines, and provide an advantageous survival environment to transplanted cells.