Biomaterials in ophthalmology: human cornea bioengineering

Abstract

Medical engineering, as an auspicious conjunction between healthcare practice, biotechnology and materials science, has emerged over time with the aim to improve human’s health. Cornea, an essential part of the eye responsible for most of its optical power, suffers every day due to accidents or various diseases. To avoid complications and overcome limitations of conventional transplantation and other surgical procedures, biomaterials and bioprinting proved beneficial can be used to design optimal devices for corneal implantation. During medical evolution, biopolymers have been used especially in tissue engineering applications, due to their high elasticity and flexibility, adaptable optical properties and tunable microstructure. Natural polymers are well accepted by the body, their offer support for tissue regeneration and, in most cases, they are easy to obtain. Beside natural-derived biopolymers, synthetic polymers can be used in bioprinting to develop performance-enhanced platforms for corneal bioengineering. Bioprinting represents an innovative method to obtain a corneal implant and has the advantage to enable the facile control over some specific properties, such as thickness, color, elasticity or shape.