Mechanoresponsive Micro- and Nanoparticles

Mechanical stimuli are ubiquitous in the human body. In contrast to biochemical stimuli such as pH, redox, hypoxia or enzymes as well as exogenous stimuli such as magnetic fields, temperature or ultrasound, endogenous biomechanical stimuli have only received relatively limited attention as a means to trigger stimuli-sensitive materials. The aim of this short article is to highlight the potential of endogenous biomechanical stimuli to control the behaviour of biomaterials relevant to, for example, drug delivery or tissue repair and regeneration. This article will first provide an overview of the different biomechanical stimuli present at the cellular and tissue level in the human body. After that, examples from recent work will be presented that illustrate the use of biomechanical stimuli. This article ends with an outlook for future research.