Acoustic Wave Resonators for Biomedical Applications

MARTÍN ZALAZAR

Nanomaterials and Regenerative Medicine

IAPC Publishing

Año: 2016; p. 625 - 646

Materials used as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications are designed to match the structural, morphological, mechanical, and chemical properties ofthe tissue or organ that will be replaced. Human cells in human tissues areanchorage dependent, the microstructure and surface properties of the scaffolds therefore being a critical issue. In this way, the behaviour of cells cultured on substrates is highly dependent on these characteristics.Surfaces can influence cell behaviour in different aspects such as the growth, adhesion, or morphology of cells. Beyond this, an electrically charged base for tissue engineering applications can be an interesting and promising approach.This fact is particularly important as many body tissues are subjected to varying electro-mechanical solicitation.Conductive materials have thus been used for tissue engineering applications, but some drawbacks exist concerning these materials, such as the need for anexternal power source to promote electrical stimuli in the cells. Piezoelectricmaterials are materials that generate varying surface charges under mechanical solicitation and that do not require additional energy sources or electrodes for the generation of the electrical signal [1]. These materials arethus suitable for active tissue engineering strategies in which electroactive response and scaffold microstructure play an essential role.Therefore, the piezoelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hasattracted interest for its biomedical applications in the fabrication of sensorsand actuators and supports for cell cultures. Similarly, aluminium nitride (AlN) has become a very attractive biocompatible piezoelectric material as it is also compatible with complementary metal?oxide?semiconductor (CMOS)technology.This chapter deals with the design and development of piezoelectric biocompatible materials for potential use in tissue engineering applications as a piezoelectric-based scaffold; further, the latest advances in these developments are shown.