Surface potential and charges impact on cell responses on biomaterials interfaces for medical applications

Surface charge on biomaterials is emerging as a crucial determinant of regulating cells responses impacting cells signaling in tissue treatment. The dynamic cell - material interaction is a complex process where surface properties in biomaterials are one of the most influencing parameters considering especially geometry, stiffness and surface charge. Therefore, a lot of effort in tissue engineering is focused on surface modifications with roughness and various coatings to control the surface potential. Importantly, charges allocated at the surface determine cells adhesion and later tissue development. Therefore, in this review, we discuss the influence of surface potential on cell attachment, mobility, proliferation, and differentiation on metals, polymer ceramics and their composites, including piezoelectric materials. The importance of surface charge is discussed in great details also for protein adsorption and wetting on modified and unmodified surfaces. We compare all characterization tools and theoretical descriptions for validation of surface potential on biomaterials. Many mechanisms governing cells responses are correlated especially surface charge topology and chemical composition. This review is a unique summary of cell culture study used to justify the effect of surface charge on cell behavior for healthcare materials.