ABSTRACT
An ideal implanted prosthesis or device would be quickly integrated and stabilized within the surrounding tissue. If tissue integration occurs too slowly, or is compromised over time, common clinical problems (such as loosening of the implant, pain, and loss of tissue near the implant site) may lead to subsequent, difficult reimplantation. Many recent strategies for avoiding these adverse outcomes are derived from the fundamental premise that macroscopic tissue-level events are ultimately derived from, and thus could be controlled by, cellular-and molecularlevel events at the tissue-implant interface. An ideal implant could be designed to encourage quick healing and maintenance of tissue by controlling cellular-and molecular-level events (such as cell adhesion, differentiation, matrix deposition, etc.) at the tissue-biomaterial interface. Understanding how cells interact with biomaterials is a necessary prerequisite for the development of novel methods to control cell-biomaterial and, eventually, tissue-biomaterial interactions.
