Biomechano‐Interactive Materials and Interfaces

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 30; no. 31; pp. e1800572 - n/a
• Main Authors: Cai, Pingqiang, Hu, Benhui, Leow, Wan Ru, Wang, Xiaoyuan, Loh, Xian Jun, Wu, Yun‐Long, Chen, Xiaodong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2018
• Subjects: Animals; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biomechanics; Biomedical materials; Chemical bonds; Deformation; Drug Carriers - chemistry; drug delivery; Elasticity; flexible devices; Materials science; mechanoresponsive materials; Mechanotransduction, Cellular; Nanoparticles - chemistry; Organic chemistry; soft robotics; Stiffness; Tissue Engineering; Viscoelasticity; tissue engineering; drug delivery; soft robotics; flexible devices; mechanoresponsive materials
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201800572

The reciprocal mechanical interaction of engineered materials with biointerfaces have long been observed and exploited in biomedical applications. It contributes to the rise of biomechano‐responsive materials and biomechano‐stimulatory materials, constituting the biomechano‐interactive interfaces. Here, endogenous and exogenous biomechanical stimuli available for mechanoresponsive interfaces are briefed and their mechanistic responses, including deformation and volume change, mechanomanipulation of physical and chemical bonds, dissociation of assemblies, and coupling with thermoresponsiveness are summarized. The mechanostimulatory materials, however, are capable of delivering mechanical cues, including stiffness, viscoelasticity, geometrical constraints, and mechanical loads, to modulate physiological and pathological behaviors of living tissues through the adaptive cellular mechanotransduction. The biomechano‐interactive materials and interfaces are widely implemented in such fields as mechanotriggered therapeutics and diagnosis, adaptive biophysical sensors, biointegrated soft actuators, and mechanorobust tissue engineering, which have offered unprecedented opportunities for precision and personalized medicine. Pending challenges are also addressed to shed a light on future advances with respect to translational implementations. Recent advances in biomechano‐interactive interfaces have been employing reciprocal mechanical interactions of engineered materials with biointerfaces, through the versatile and tailorable activation of biomechano‐responsive materials and the mechanical properties (stiffness, viscoelasticity, and geometrical constraints) of biomechano‐stimulatory materials, in a wide range of implementations, including mechano‐triggered therapeutics and diagnosis, adaptive biophysical sensors, bio‐integrated soft actuators, and mechano‐robust tissue engineering.