Chemical and physical properties of regenerative medicine materials controlling stem cell fate

Abstract

Regenerative medicine is a multidisciplinary field utilizing the potential of stem cells and the regenerative capability of the body to restore, maintain, or enhance tissue and organ functions. Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can self-renew but also differentiate into several somatic cells when subjected the appropriate environmental cues. The ability to reliably direct stem cell fate would provide tremendous potential for basic research and clinical therapies. Proper tissue function and regeneration rely on the spatial and temporal control of biophysical and biochemical cues, including soluble molecules, cell–cell contacts, cell–extracellular matrix contacts, and physical forces. The mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. This review focuses on the stem cell–extracellular matrix interactions by summarizing the observations of the effects of material variables (such as overall architecture, surface topography, charge, ζ-potential, surface energy, and elastic modulus) on the stem cell fate. It also deals with the mechanisms underlying the effects of these extrinsic, material variables. Insight in the environmental interactions of the stem cells is crucial for the development of new material-based approaches for cell culture experiments and future experimental and clinical regenerative medicine applications.

Key words::

• Biomimetic materials
• cell differentiation
• stem cells

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the Regenerative Medicine program of the European Science Foundation, Danish Council of Strategic Research (Individualized Musculoskeletal Medicine), FiDi Pro Program of the Academy of Finland, the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, the Finnish PhD Graduate School in Musculoskeletal Diseases and Biomaterials, Orton Orthopaedic Hospital of the ORTON Foundation, Finska Läkaresällskapet, Aalto University, Orion Foundation, and Helsinki University Central Hospital evo grants. Gonçalo Barreto is a visiting Graduate Student from Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, which is gratefully acknowledged. Dr Montserrat Español Pons and Professor Maria-Pau Ginebra from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain and Professor Reijo Lappalainen from the Department of Physics, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland, are kindly acknowledged for their help.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.