Electroactive Biomaterials Regulate the Electrophysiological Microenvironment to Promote Bone and Cartilage Tissue Regeneration

Abstract

The incidence of large bone and articular cartilage defects caused by traumatic injury is increasing worldwide; the tissue regeneration process for these injuries is lengthy due to limited self‐healing ability. Endogenous bioelectrical phenomenon has been well recognized to play an important role in bone and cartilage homeostasis and regeneration. Studies have reported that electrical stimulation (ES) can effectively regulate various biological processes and holds promise as an external intervention to enhance the synthesis of the extracellular matrix, thereby accelerating the process of bone and cartilage regeneration. Hence, electroactive biomaterials have been considered a biomimetic approach to ensure functional recovery by integrating various physiological signals, including electrical, biochemical, and mechanical signals. This review will discuss the role of endogenous bioelectricity in bone and cartilage tissue, as well as the effects of ES on cellular behaviors. Then, recent advances in electroactive materials and their applications in bone and cartilage tissue regeneration are systematically overviewed, with a focus on their advantages and disadvantages as tissue repair materials and performances in the modulation of cell fate. Finally, the significance of mimicking the electrophysiological microenvironment of target tissue is emphasized and future development challenges of electroactive biomaterials for bone and cartilage repair strategies are proposed.

Nanoclay Reinforced Integrated Scaffold for Dual-Lineage Regeneration of Cartilage and Subchondral Bone

“…Protein adsorption has an important effect on cells in tissue engineering and can promote cell growth, differentiation, and function regulation . Excellent protein adsorption ability contributes to stabilizing key proteins, thereby promoting the proliferation of chondrocytes and the synthesis of extracellular matrix, which is helpful for the regeneration and repair of cartilage tissue. − The protein adsorption capacity of the scaffolds was investigated using bovine serum proteins (BSA). The POC/5% GATP, POC/10% GATP, and POC/15% GATP scaffolds exhibited increased BSA adsorption compared to the pure POC scaffold, as depicted in Figure D.…”

Enhanced Electroactive Phases of Poly(vinylidene Fluoride) Fibers for Tissue Engineering Applications

“…The general influence of electrospinning parameters on fiber diameter is shown in Figure 2. In tissue engineering, electrospinning is widely investigated as a scaffold for drug delivery [19], bone tissue engineering [20], cardiac tissue engineering [21], cartilage [22], soft tissue [23], or skin [24]. In addition to many advantages of electrospinning, such as the controlled architecture of the scaffolds providing similarity to ECM, cheapness, and simplicity [25], the electrospinning technique (Figure 3A) is a particularly promising method of PVDF scaffold formation because of the possibility of reaching relatively high polar form and thus piezoelectricity by optimizing electrospinning conditions [26].…”