Control of Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Biomaterials

Abstract

In vivo micro-environment of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), known as stem cell niches, plays an important role in deciding the cell fate which is required to regulate tissue homeostasis. These micro-environmental features include orchestrated interactions between different compartments which are cell-cell, cell-soluble factors, and cell-matrix interactions. In addition to cell-cell interactions and soluble biomolecules present in extra-cellular environment of the niches, stem cell fate is guided through their interactions with extra cellular matrix (ECM) which is tightly regulated at the molecular, cellular and tissue level. These cell-matrix interactions with an artificial matrix should mimic the physicochemical, mechanical and topographical interactions at micro- and nano-scale dimension for recapitulation of stem-cell micro-environment. Therefore, it is important to design biomaterials which can provide the in vivo micro-environmental properties of ECM for guiding the fate of the stem cells and potentially can impact tissue regeneration. This chapter discusses the structural and functional characteristics of biomaterials which can guide the fate of MSCs by modulating viability, proliferation, morphology, migration and differentiation. Understanding native stem cell niches and deriving design principles to construct artificial biomaterial based stem-cell microenvironment is important for successful regenerative tissue engineering.