Abstract
The ability to control the interactions between functional biomaterials and biological systems is of great importance for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the underlying mechanisms defining the interplay between biomaterial properties and the human body are complex. Therefore, a key challenge is to design biomaterials that mimic the in vivo microenvironment. Over millions of years, nature has produced a wide variety of biological materials optimised for distinct functions, ranging from the extracellular matrix (ECM) for structural and biochemical support of cells to the holy lotus with special wettability for self-cleaning effects. Many of these systems found in biology possess unique surface properties recognised to regulate cell behaviour. Integration of such natural surface properties in biomaterials can bring about novel cell responses in vitro and provide greater insights into the processes occurring at the cell-biomaterial interface. Using natural surfaces as templates for bioinspired design can stimulate progress in the field of regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and biomaterials science. This literature review aims to combine the state-of-the-art knowledge in natural and nature-inspired surfaces, with an emphasis on material properties known to affect cell behaviour.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 47 |
Journal | Journal of Functional Biomaterials |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 7 Jul 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 676338.
Funding Information:
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 676338.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Keywords
- (bio) materials
- Biomimicry
- Natural and nature-inspired surfaces
- Regenerative medicine
- Surface-cell interactions
- Tissue engineering
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biomaterials
- Biomedical Engineering