Stem cell differentiation depending on different surfaces.

Mesenchymal stem cells and 3D biomaterials are a potent assembly in tissue engineering. Today, a sizable number of biomaterials has been characterized for special tissue engineering applications. However, diverse material properties, such as soft or hard biomaterials, have a specific influence on cell behavior. Not only the cell attachment and proliferation, but also differentiation is controlled by the microenvironment. Material characteristics such as pore size, stiffness, roughness, and geometry affect not only the cell attachment and proliferation, but also the differentiation behavior of mesenchymal stem cells. Optimization of these features might enable direct differentiation without adjustment of the culture medium by applying expensive growth or differentiation factors. Future aspects include the design of multilayered biomaterials, where each zone fulfills a distinct function. Moreover, the embedding of growth and differentiation factors into the matrix with a controlled release rate might be advantageous to direct differentiation.