Biomaterials for Replacing Function in Damaged Cells

When medical devices are implanted into the body, cells are damaged.  As a consequence, biochemical signaling agents, such as nitric oxide (NO), are not released that are required to maintain normal homeostasis.  This leads to activation of the foreign body response and a cascade of biological events that ultimately cause detrimental complications.  Materials that can replace the function of the injured cells, thereby substituting for the natural signaling agents, would alleviate a major clinical problem.  In this presentation, the development of synthetic and natural materials that can augment the function of cells for both acute and chronic applications will be discussed. In particular, the development of biodegradable polymers and metal organic frameworks that either replicate or catalyze natural endogenous function in order to promote normal cellular responses will be examined.  In the end, both systems can promote the desired cellular response but with different fundamental mechanisms of behavior, kinetics, and potential applications.