Mimicking dynamic in vivo environments with stimuli-responsive materials for cell culture

Traditional synthetic substrates and matrices for cell culture have proven to be of only limited utility in efforts to understand and control cell behavior, in large part because they fail to capture the multifarious biochemical, mechanical, geometric and dynamic characteristics of in vivo environments. However, recent advances in materials chemistry and engineering have begun to provide researchers with a toolbox to mimic the complex characteristics of natural extracellular matrices (ECMs), providing new pathways to explore cell–matrix interactions and direct cell fate under physiologically realistic conditions. In this review, we describe recent developments in stimuli-responsive materials as dynamic substrates and matrices for cell culture, and highlight their use in furthering our understanding of how cells respond to temporal variations in their environment.