Biomimetic polymers in pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences

This review describes recent developments in the emerging field of biomimetic polymeric biomaterials, which signal to cells via biologically active entities. The described biological effects are, in contrast to many other known interactions, receptor mediated and therefore very specific for certain cell types. As an introduction into this field, first some biological principles are illustrated such as cell attachment, cytokine signaling and endocytosis, which are some of the mechanisms used to control cells with biomimetic polymers. The next topics are then the basic design rules for the creation of biomimetic materials. Here, the major emphasis is on polymers that are assembled in separate building blocks, meaning that the biologically active entity is attached to the polymer in a separate chemical reaction. In that respect, first individual chemical standard reactions that may be used for this step are briefly reviewed. In the following chapter, the emphasis is on polymer types that have been used for the development of several biomimetic materials. There is, thereby, a delineation made between materials that are processed to devices exceeding cellular dimensions and materials predominantly used for the assembly of nanostructures. Finally, we give a few current examples for applications in which biomimetic polymers have been applied to achieve a better biomaterial performance. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.