As cardiac diseases, which mostly result in heart failure, are increasing rapidly worldwide, heart transplantation seems the only solution for saving lives. However, this practice is not always possible due to several reasons, such as scarcity of donors, rejection of organs from recipient bodies, or costly medical procedures. In the framework of nanotechnology, nanomaterials greatly contribute to the development of these cardiovascular scaffolds as they provide an easy regeneration of the tissues. Currently, functional nanofibers can be used in the production of stem cells and in the regeneration of cells and tissues. The small size of nanomaterials, however, leads to changes in their chemical and physical characteristics that could alter their interaction and exposure to stem cells with cells and tissues. This article aims to review the naturally occurring biodegradable nanomaterials that are used in cardiovascular tissue engineering for the development of cardiac patches, vessels, and tissues. Moreover, this article also provides an overview of cell sources used for cardiac tissue engineering, explains the anatomy and physiology of the human heart, and explores the regeneration of cardiac cells and the nanofabrication approaches used in cardiac tissue engineering as well as scaffolds.
Keywords: cardiovascular scaffolds; functional nanofibers; nanotechnology; tissue regeneration.