Natural biomaterials-based antimicrobial biocomposites

FERRANTE MICAELA; GONZÁLEZ JIMENA

Natural Composites for Biomedical Applications

Elsevier Ltd

Año: 2025;

AbstractThe importance of natural materials lies in the fact that the biological system can recognize and process through metabolic pathways. Biocomposites are defined as being entirely constituted of natural materials, they are derived from renewable resources and in many cases can completely biodegrade. Current uses of biocomposites tend to be biomaterials. A biomaterial is any substance (not a drug) synthetic or natural in origin or combination of these substances, which can be used any time, as a whole or as a part of a system which treats, augments, or replaces any tissue, organ or function of the body. Biomaterials with antimicrobial effects are currently being studied by several researchers. Natural products are still one of the major sources of new antimicrobial drugs today. It is well known that microbial and plant products occupy the major part of the antimicrobial medicines discovered until now. Here, a brief definition and classification of natural polymers with antimicrobial properties are described, also a classification of most popular fillers used for the obtaining of biocomposites are reported. Moreover, several examples of biomaterials from recent literature are mentioned.