Functionality Modification of Polysaccharides for Enhanced Surface Properties at the Cell-Material Interface for Biomedical Applications

The surface properties of materials are very critical for their use in biomedical applications, such as biomedical implants, tissue engineering scaffolds, and other biomedical devices, including drug delivery devices. The different bioapplications are very specific in their requirement for the surface properties of materials. Polysaccharides have been extensively studied for their biomedical applications, e.g., tissue engineering scaffolds, drug delivery devices and wound healing. Various classes of polysaccharides have been employed for different bioapplications due to their structural variability, which provides the desired surface properties for specific biomedical applications. However, to improve the material properties further at the cell-material interface for various bio-applications, polysaccharides have attracted renewed interest amongst researchers due to certain advantages, such as the material of choice over other available biomaterials metallic, ceramic and polymeric either in combinations or alone. This chapter covers the advances in the use of different classes of polysaccharides in terms of their origin and their modified forms for various applications. The further discussion involves the various surface characteristics required at cell-material interfaces for biomaterials for application in tissue scaffolds. Furthermore, the discussion involves the various bioapplications of polysaccharides, focusing on applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery.

Keywords: Biomaterials, Drug Delivery, Polysaccharide, Porosity, Scaffold, Stiffness, Surface Charge, Surface Modification, Tissue Engineering, Wound Healing, Wettability.