The Instructive Role of Biomaterials in Cell-Based Therapy and Tissue Engineering

Abstract

At the interface of synthetic and biomaterials chemistry is the development of materials comprising specific bioactive sequences with a range of physical and mechanical properties. The requirement of biomaterials demands many characteristics capable of regulating cell adhesion, migration, and differentiation. Not only are substrates required to be durable and biodegradable, but they are required to maintain a defined population of cells with specific functionality. Cells obtain a vast amount of information from their microenvironment and surrounding tissue which in order to regulate and maintain their function in vivo. Therefore cell–substrate interaction is important for the exchange of molecular information to maintain growth, viability, and intracellular structural reorganization in the development of artificial tissues in vitro. In addition, the interplay between force-transduced mechanical stimulation and intracellular biochemical processes is important for the regulation of signalling pathways and subsequent cell function. This chapter therefore explores the use of both biological and synthetic-based biomaterials in tissue engineering and also provides an overview of the mechanotransductive processes that occur as a result of substrate mechanical stimulation.