Comprehensive Review on the Use of Graphene-Based Substrates for Regenerative Medicine and Biomedical Devices

Recent research suggests that graphene holds great potential in the biomedical field because of its extraordinary properties. Whereas initial attempts focused on the use of suspended graphene for drug delivery and bioimaging, more recent work has demonstrated its advantages for preparing substrates for tissue engineering and biomedical devices and products. Cells are known to interact with and respond to nanoparticles differently when presented in the form of a substrate than in the form of a suspension. In tissue engineering, a stable and supportive substrate or scaffold is needed to provide mechanical support, chemical stimuli, and biological signals to cells. This review compiles recent advances of the impact of both graphene and graphene-derived particles to prepare supporting substrates for tissue regeneration and devices as well as the associated cell response to multifunctional graphene substrates. We discuss the interaction of cells with pristine graphene, graphene oxide, functionalized graphene, and hybrid graphene particles in the form of coatings and composites. Such materials show excellent biological outcomes in vitro, in particular, for orthopedic and neural tissue engineering applications. Preliminary evaluation of these graphene-based materials in vivo reinforces their promise for tissue regeneration and implants. Although the reported findings of studies on graphene-based substrates are promising, several questions and concerns associated with their in vivo use persist. Possible strategies to examine these issues are presented.