Nanocomposite scaffolds for myogenesis revisited: Functionalization with carbon nanomaterials and spectroscopic analysis

Skeletal muscle injuries are extremely common because skeletal muscle is quite frequently used in the human body, and these injuries can cause serious health implications. Currently, grafting and pharmacological therapies are the most common therapeutic methods for treating and repairing the skeletal muscle damages, but both therapeutic methods have significant limitations. Therefore, in recent years, the tissue engineering approaches have attracted much attention in biomedical and bioengineering fields. In particular, up-to-date studies have focused on the novel strategies aimed at promoting and enhancing the regeneration of skeletal muscle tissue by using tissue engineering scaffolds. Although the tissue engineering scaffolds can be readily fabricated with conventional biocompatible materials, such as polymer, ceramic, or metallic materials, the carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) are the most fascinating candidates as a scaffold material due to their favorable biocompatibility and extraordinary physicochemical, electronic, mechanical, and thermal properties. The aim of this review is to summarize some of the recent reports concerning the nanocomposite scaffolds functionalized with CNMs and to highlight promising perspective for the applications of CNMs as skeletal tissue engineering scaffolds. In addition, it is also discussed how the spectroscopic analysis can be employed for analyzing CNMs and nanocomposite scaffolds.