Minireview: biocompatibility of engineered biomaterials, their interaction with the host cells, and evaluation of their properties

Abstract

The immune response to drug-delivering systems and implanted medical devices based on biomaterials is extremely complex, and therefore, the goal in this area of materials engineering is to go beyond producing “inert” or “biodegradable” materials and to apply the knowledge of immunology, material sciences, and nanotechnology to design biomaterials that respond to stimuli from the cellular and extracellular environment and manage to return, preserve, and optimize the function of some tissue. Biocompatibility and optimally restoring the cellular structures and functions of the damaged tissue come with the capability of tunning the immune response and the inflammatory reactions, cell migration, transport across the membranes, drug selective release, and other characteristics. These same aspects require a deep understanding of the material’s structure, its composition, the location of the implant or the target site of the nanomaterial, its mechanical resistance, the severity of the damage in the treated area, and many others. Research on these aspects has led to the development of new biomaterials with high biocompatibility and innovative properties. This review aims to shed light on the general understanding of biomaterials, the foreign body response, and how it is modulated by biomaterials. It mentions some instrumental techniques and briefly introduces high-throughput methods for studying biomaterials.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Biomaterials
• biocompatibility
• cellular scaffolds
• foreign body response
• implants
• nanomaterials

Subject classification codes:

• Biomaterials

Acknowledgments

The authors very much appreciate the support of the Technological University of Zinacantepec. Also, the authors would like to thank the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) for financing our research through the National System of Researchers (SNI) incentive.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).