Mechanical Biocompatibility of Highly Deformable Biomedical Materials

Mismatch of mechanical properties between highly deformable biomedical materials and adjacent native tissue might lead to short and long term health impairment. The capability of implants to deform at the right level, i.e. similar to the macroscopic mechanical response of the surrounding biological materials, is often associated with dissimilar microstructural deformation mechanisms. This mismatch on smaller length scales might lead to micro-injuries, cell damage, inflammation, fibrosis or necrosis. Hence, the mechanical biocompatibility of soft implants depends not only on the properties and composition of the implant material, but also on its organization, distribution and motion at one or several length scales. The challenges related to the analysis and attainment of mechanical biocompatibility are illustrated with two examples: prosthetic meshes for hernia and pelvic repair and electrospun scaffolds for tissue engineering. For these material systems we describe existing methods for characterization and analysis of the non-linear response to uniaxial and multiaxial stress states, its time and history dependence, and the changes in deformation behavior associated with tissue in-growth and material resorption. We discuss the multi-scale deformation behavior of biomaterials and adjacent tissue, and indicate major interdisciplinary questions to be addressed in future research.