Mussel-Based Biomimetic Strategies in Musculoskeletal Disorder Treatment: From Synthesis Principles to Diverse Applications

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders are the second leading cause of disability worldwide, posing a huge global burden to the public sanitation system. Currently, tissue engineering-based approaches act as effective strategies, which are, however, challenging in limited application scenarios. Mussel-based biomimetic materials, exhibit numerous unique properties such as intense adhesion, biocompatibility, moisture resistance, and injectability, to name only a few, and have attracted extensive research interest. In particular, featuring state-of-the-art properties, mussel-inspired biomaterials have been widely explored in innumerable musculoskeletal disorder treatments including osteochondral defects, osteosarcoma, osteoarthritis, ligament rupture, and osteoporosis. Nevertheless, a comprehensive and timely discussion of their applications in musculoskeletal disorders is insufficient. In this review, we emphasize on (1) the main categories and characteristics of mussel foot proteins and their fundamental mechanisms for the spectacular adhesion in mussels; (2) the diverse synthetic methods and modification of various polymers; and (3) the emerging applications of mussel-biomimetic materials, the future perspectives, and challenges, especially in the area of musculoskeletal disorder. We envision that this review will provide a unique and insightful perspective to improve the development of a new generation of mussel biomimetic strategies.

Clay Sculpture‐Inspired 3D Printed Microcage Module Using Bioadhesion Assembly for Specific‐Shaped Tissue Vascularization and Regeneration

“…[ 35 , 36 ] Hydrogels incorporating composite catechol groups have a wide range of applications, including in skin wound repair, hemostasis, biosensors, and wearable smart devices. [ 37 , 38 , 39 ] In this study, we prepared a composite hydrogel material, PGD, leveraging the adhesion principle of catechol moieties found in mussel proteins. This adhesion was achieved through the reaction of catechol groups after 3D printing and molding.…”

Solvent-Exchange Triggered Solidification of Peptide/POM Coacervates for Enhancing the On-Site Underwater Adhesion

“…Despite this advance, achieving the on-site adhesion and spontaneous solidification (without applied compressing pressure) of the peptide/POM adhesives fully implemented in water is challenging. In stark contrast, marine organisms can unhurriedly apply protein coacervates to exert the interfacial spreading, preliminary adhesion and subsequent solidification because the condensed coacervates hold the following features [35][36][37]: (1) shear-thinning viscosity, which enables them to flow easily through the narrow conduits of organisms; (2) sufficiently cohesion, which can avoid the delivered coacervates to be rapidly lost to the surrounding water and ensure their on-site deposition onto surfaces out of bulk water; (3) low interfacial tension, allowing them to maximize the interfacial spreading and wetting on solid surfaces; (4) fluidity and deformation, enabling them to form conformal contact with the substrate surface after spreading; (5) porous internal microstructures, allows the water, ions and small molecules to permeate within the matrix of the coacervates, which is particularly important for the pH, metal ions and enzyme triggered solidification. The aforementioned properties endow the unique advantage of coacervates for balancing the trade-off relationship between interfacial adhesion and bulk cohesion of protein adhesives.…”

Advanced Biomaterials and 3D Printing Technologies in Bone Repair

“…In recent years, there had been remarkable success in the functionalization of mussel-inspired material surfaces (Lee et al, 2007;Mehdizadeh et al, 2012;Guo et al, 2016;Guo et al, 2018;. Tannins with catechol moieties had been shown to adhere strongly to inorganic surfaces, enhancing the interfacial forces of the complexes Yu et al, 2023).…”