Mechano-active biomaterials for tissue repair and regeneration

Abstract

There is a lack of effective tissue repair and regeneration strategies in current clinical practices. Numerous studies have suggested that smart or responsive biomaterials possessing the ability to respond to endogenous stimuli in vivo may positively mediate the tissue micro-environment towards a tissue repair or regeneration. Mechanical stimuli, which constantly exist in a wide range of biological systems and are involved in almost all the physiological processes, belong to such stimuli to which responsive biomaterials can respond. In recent studies, a new type of smart biomaterials, which can dynamically adapt to the mechanical stimuli in vivo and thus has specific functionality consistently mediated by such mechanical stimuli, has emerged. In contrast to common biomaterials that passively react to the mechanical environment of an implantation site, such mechano-active biomaterials have enabled various active or automatic strategies for tissue repair or regeneration, such as providing precise spatial-temporal controls on delivery of drugs or cells in the organs of the musculoskeletal and the circulatory 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 article elucidates a perspective of perfecting tissue repair or regeneration using mechano-active biomaterials, especially highlighting the rationale behind the concept of mechano-active biomaterials and their potential in the repair or regeneration of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular tissues. Albeit outstanding challenges and unknowns, the emergence of mechano-active biomaterials has become a new avenue for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.