ABSTRACT
As discussed in accompanying chapters, all materials implanted into the human body, whether synthetic or natural, are instantly barraged with thousands of surface-active proteins, saccharides, lipids, and smaller molecule solutes found in all physiological §uids. Multiple interfacial forces are involved in this adsorption, and several thousand known serum proteins participate in this response. Cells, as larger, slower-diffusing species, arrive on an implant surface at later times, when smaller molecule adsorption processes are well advanced kinetically and thermodynamically. In short, control of this biological adsorption response to biomaterials has proven extremely challenging. To date, all biomaterials developed or implanted react with physiological §uids to greater or lesser
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 57 5.2 Materials Requirements in Tissue Engineering ..................................................................... 58
5.2.1 Scaffold Bulk Fabrication Issues ................................................................................60 5.2.2 Bioactive Agents and Controlled Release in Tissue Engineering .............................. 61 5.2.3 Scaffold Design and Surface Chemistry .................................................................... 61
5.3 ECM Molecules as Essential Determinants of Cell Adhesion and Expression .....................65 5.3.1 Components of the ECM ............................................................................................66 5.3.2 Cell Surface Integrin Receptors .................................................................................68
