Piezoelectric Polymers for Tissue Engineering and Regeneration
摘要
Piezoelectric materials, that is materials able to convert mechanical solicitations into electrical signals y vice versa, have been repeatedly proposed for the repair of electroactive tissues, including bone, muscle, nerves and skin, among others. This strategy, in which the characteristics of native tissues are mimicked to guide tissue growth, has a huge potential to revolutionize regenerative medicine, however, there are still a number of challenges that need to be addressed in order to achieve this. For example, it is important to understand the mechanisms that govern cellular responses to electromechanical stimuli in order to optimize the materials. It is also central to understand how various stimuli, including topography, porosity and scaffold architecture, are integrated and affect this response. In this chapter we provide an overview of the most important polymers used for tissue engineering and list some of the applications in the field.