From Biomaterial, Biomimetic, and Polymer to Biodegradable and Biocompatible Liquid Crystal Elastomer Cell Scaffolds

Abstract

3D scaffolds are no longer simply physical templates for cell growth and tissue formation; they also have to provide chemical, biomolecular, mechanical and geometrical signals to cells. Liquid crystals (LCs) can be of significant importance in tissue engineering because they are able to report anisotropic growth of expanding cell lines back to the observer with an easily discernable optical response such as a change in birefringence or via the alignment of the LC molecules. The real challenge is to design materials that can direct or guide the behavior of biological materials. After a brief survey of several materials classes intensively investigated for the use as 3D cell scaffolds, we summarize recent research on a particular class of LC materials, liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), that can serve as unique, longitudinal and multi-responsive cell scaffolds suitable for cell attachment, cell proliferation and cell alignment. Several types of biocompatible, biodegradable LCE scaffolds with specially engineered porous architectures will be introduced and their advantages discussed.