Microbial cellulose

Medical

Microbial cellulose has also been used for internal treatments, such as bone grafts and other tissue engineering and regeneration. A key ability of microbial cellulose for medical applications is that it can easily be molded into various shapes while still retaining all of its useful properties. By molding microbial cellulose into long, hollow tubes, they can be used as replacement structures for several different areas, such as the cardiovascular system, the digestive tract, urinary tract, or the trachea. A recent application of microbial cellulose has been as synthetic blood vessels and stents. The cellulose can also be modeled into mesh membranes that can be used for internal replacement structures, such as the brain's outer membrane, the dura mater. In addition to replacement, these structures have also been used as grafts to interact with existing internal biological material. Microbial cellulose has also been used in guided tissue regeneration. Bioprocess® and Gengiflex® are some of the common trademarked products of microbial cellulose that now have wide applications in surgery and dental implants. One example involves the recovery of periodontal tissues by separating oral epithelial cells and gingival connective tissues from the treated root surface.