Smart Polymeric Biomaterials for Clinical Use

As biomaterials transition from static, inert objects into dynamic scaffolds that augment the healing process, the ability to design large-scale changes in architecture in response to environmental changes is increasingly valuable. To address this need, stimuli-responsive, or "smart," biomaterials are employed in clinical applications more frequently. These materials are capable of undergoing large and abrupt changes in shape in response to small changes in the environment, such as temperature, pH, mechanical forces, light, magnetic fields, or enzymes. Smart polymeric biomaterials include shape memory polymers, stimuli-responsive hydrogels, and liquid crystal elastomers. These materials are used in a vast range of biomedical applications, including embolic/hemostatic devices, orthopedics, cosmetics, wound healing, drug delivery, neural scaffolds, and infection control, among others. While smart materials can be employed in vitro for biomedical uses, we focus here on materials that have been designed for use in or on the human body. The signals that these materials respond to include those that occur endogenously in vivo and externally applied signals that are controlled by clinicians and/or patients. This review highlights current clinically available devices based on smart materials, smart polymeric biomaterial technologies that are in current clinical trials, and novel materials that are under development for future clinical use.