The Potential of Plant-based Composite Material for Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine focuses on replacing injured tissues and organs by utilising biophysical and biochemical cues to develop bioscaffolds suitable for regenerating damaged or injured tissues. The scaffold has an important role in guiding the development of the regenerative process that allows the migration and attachment of cells and, to a certain extent, becomes the source of nutrients influencing the cells or tissue's biological mechanism. Hence, the selection of biomaterials is important to ensure biocompatibility and suitable mechanical properties for tissue engineering. Different sources and types of biomaterials can be used in the fabrication of scaffolds, including composites. Composite biomaterials consist of more than one material with different morphologies and compositions, causing it to become multiphased, which can ameliorate the scaffold’s mechanical properties, flexibility, and structural properties to ensure a suitable microenvironment for cell growth and viability. Nevertheless, biocompatibility issues need to be addressed, particularly with synthetic materials, which led investigators to explore other sources and types, such as plant-based biomaterials, to fabricate suitable and safer composites. Aside from being more sustainable and perhaps more eco-friendly, plant-based composite materials fulfill the criteria required for biomaterials and exhibit many advantages that can be adapted in their fabrication techniques. Hence, in this chapter, the advantages and development of plant-based materials will be discussed, focusing on the potential of oil palm and konjac plants as sources of biomaterials