A Review of Nanocellulose Types and Their Medical Application

Nanocellulose is an exclusive natural substance extracted from lignocellulosic biomass, which attracted the attention of many researchers regarding its medical application during the recent years, owing to their remarkable physical, chemical, and biological properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity. The current study aimed at reviewing cellulose types and their application in medicine including drug delivery, tissue engineering, implants and substitute materials in body, and antibacterial agents.
This review study was conducted searching keywords in online databases such as Wiley Online Library, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Springer, and PubMed in English language. A total of 300 full-text articles and abstracts were extracted, which some of them were excluded due to irrelevant contents. Finally, the eligible articles were selected and investigated.
Generally, three types of nanocellulose as nanofiber, nanocrystal, and bacterial celluloses were introduced, which their application in medical products improved mechanical and biological properties, reduced toxicity, etc. Although during the last decade several successful nanocellulose-based products were introduced, a significant improvement in cellulose biomedical materials is expected. Totally, innovation of reliable manufacturing methods for biocompatible cellulose materials with controlled certain properties, functionalization of the surface, and dispersion for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications are required.
Among the different types of nanocellulose, bacterial nanocellulose are widely utilized in recent years for biomedical applications, owing to their low toxicity and high porosity.