**5. Conclusions**

Nanofibrous scaffolds made of synthetic polymers have been widely investigated for their potential use in skin regenerative therapies. Non-degradable polymers used for preparation of nanofibrous scaffolds included polyurethane (which can also be prepared in degradable form), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethersulfone (PES), and even polystyrene (PS). These scaffolds were mainly intended for wound dressing applications, and in case of PS, also for cultivation of skin cells in dynamic bioreactor and at the air/liquid interface. For creation of nanofibrous meshes, the non-degradable polymers have been often used in combinations with nature-derived polymers (dextran, chitosan, gelatin, and keratin), and loaded with various wound healing, angiogenic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, photoprotective, and antimicrobial substances. Non-degradable synthetic polymers also include hydrogels, such as poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and particularly poly(di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (PDEGMA), which is thermoresponsive and suitable for controlled drug delivery and cell delivery into wounds. Degradable synthetic polymers have been also applied in wound healing, but also as direct scaffolds for skin tissue engineering, i.e., as carriers for keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and stem cells. The most widely used degradable polymers for these applications include polycaprolactone (PCL) and its copolymers with polylactides (PLCL), and also polylactides (PLLA and PDLLA) and their copolymers with polyglycolides (PLGA). Similarly as non-degradable polymers, also degradable polymers are almost exclusively used in combination with nature-derived polymers (collagen, gelatin, keratin, fibrin, and glycosaminoglycans) in order to increase their attractiveness for cell colonization, and also with some synthetic polymers, such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). These synthetic polymers act as auxiliary, i.e., improving electrospinnability, mechanical properties, and wettability of other polymers. Similarly as non-degradable polymers, also degradable polymers have been loaded with a wide range of growth and angiogenic factors and other biologically active substances. The cell performance on non-degradable and degradable nanofibrous scaffolds can be further markedly improved by cultivation in dynamic bioreactors and/or at air/ liquid interface.

**49**

*Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Skin Tissue Engineering and Wound Healing Based on Synthetic…*

This review article was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (grant No. 17-02448S) and the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic (grant No.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88744*

**Acknowledgements**

NV18-01-00332).

**Author details**

Lucie Bacakova1

Liberec, Czech Republic

Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

provided the original work is properly cited.

Elena Filova1

Vera Jencova<sup>2</sup>

\*, Marketa Zikmundova1

, Eva Kuzelova Kostakova<sup>2</sup>

Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

\*Address all correspondence to: lucie.bacakova@fgu.cas.cz

, Andreu Blanquer1

, Julia Pajorova1

and Alla Sinica3,4

, Roman Matejka1

1 Department of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Institute of Physiology of the

2 Faculty of Sciences, Humanities and Education, Technical University of Liberec,

3 BIOCEV, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Vestec, Czech Republic

4 Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

, Antonin Broz1

, Jana Stepanovska1

,

, Petr Mikes2

,

*Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Skin Tissue Engineering and Wound Healing Based on Synthetic… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88744*
