Chapter 9 - Mechano-active materials for musculoskeletal tissue engineering

Abstract

Tissue engineering represents a promising strategy for musculoskeletal tissue repair and regeneration, where scaffold materials that positively mediate the cell/tissue microenvironment toward a tissue repair or regeneration are of great significance. Based on recent studies, a new type of smart biomaterials has emerged that can dynamically adapt to the mechanical stimuli and thus has specific functionality consistently mediated by such mechanical stimuli. In contrast to common biomaterials that only passively react to the mechanical environment of an implantation site, such mechanically active biomaterials have enabled various active or automatic strategies for musculoskeletal tissue engineering, such as providing precise spatial-temporal controls on delivery of drugs or cells in the tissues of the musculoskeletal systems; in situ reconstructing the original or a favorable mechanical environment at a lesion site; and accelerating the tissue remodeling or healing process via a mechanobiological effect. This chapter elucidates recent advances in musculoskeletal tissue engineering on the basis of mechanically active biomaterials, especially highlighting the rationale behind the concept of mechanically active biomaterials and their potential in the repair or regeneration of musculoskeletal tissues. Albeit outstanding challenges and unknowns, the emergence of mechanically active biomaterials has become a new avenue for musculoskeletal tissue engineering.