Polymeric biomaterials for bone regeneration

Natural and synthetic polymeric materials have been widely used in bone tissue engineering due to their similarity with extracellular matrices and considerable biocompatibility and biodegradability. A variety of techniques has been applied to modify the physicochemical, structural, and biological properties of polymeric materials to meet the specific requirements of bone regeneration. This review aims to provide a brief overview of recent progress on the synthesis and fabrication of polymeric materials for bone tissue engineering. Commonly used and innovative processing techniques to fabricate different structural polymer scaffolds and bioactive surface modification of polymer scaffolds to promote bone regeneration are introduced. The mechanical stimulation and immunomodulatory effect of polymeric materials to cells are also discussed.