Engineering of Biomaterials Surfaces by Hyaluronan

Abstract

This review addresses the area of study that defines the field of surface modification of biomedical materials and devices by hyaluronan (HA), as related to the exploitation of HA biological properties. To provide a comprehensive view of the subject matter, initial sections give a quick introduction to basic information on HA-protein and HA-cell interactions, together with some discussion on the bioactive role of HA in wound healing and related phenomena. This is followed by a description of current theories that correlate HA properties to its molecular structure in aqueous media, underlying how HA molecular details are crucial for its biological interaction and role. Finally, existing approaches to surface modification by HA are reviewed, stressing the need for HA-surface engineering founded on the knowledge and control of the surface-linked HA molecular conformation at the solid/aqueous interface.

Silk fibroin/hyaluronan scaffolds for human mesenchymal stem cell culture in tissue engineering

“…The capacity of HA to enhance GAG deposition in tissue engineered constructs is in agreement with other work related to HA-based scaffolds [29,45] and underlines the current interest in HA-based biomaterials for tissue engineering applications [12,18,47].…”

“…HA can also interact with cells through receptors on the plasmatic membrane such as CD44. In turn, this receptor activates several biological effects, such as modulation of angiogenic processes [14][15][16][17], induction of proinflammatory metalloprotease expression [18], enhancement of cell motility and invasion [19], and amplification of cell proliferation [20]. Other studies also indicated a key role of the interaction between HA and CD44 at several stages of embryogenesis [21], as well as for the development of adult tissues such as the growth plate or mature bone [22][23][24].…”

Designing multivalent probes for tunable superselective targeting

“…A case in point is hyaluronan (HA), an extracellular matrix polysaccharide of importance in biological systems (7), biomaterials (8), and biomedicine (9): HA binding to the cell surface was found to be selective to the surface density of the main cell-surface receptor CD44 (10). Thus far, no systematic quantitative study has assessed how the proposed molecular parameters [i.e., receptor density, affinity, HA length, number of accessible HA binding sites (11)] regulate the binding of HA to cell surfaces.…”

Engineering a clinically-useful matrix for cell therapy

“…8,19 In addition, chemical modification techniques have allowed the modification of the surfaces of implantable devices and biomaterials with HA. 20 Chemically-modified HA derivatives were recently grouped into two categories. 21 When the modification resulted in a final form that could not form new chemical bonds in the presence of cells or tissues, and could only be manipulated by fabrication into different physical forms, these were classed as "monolithic" derivatives.…”