From Selective Cardiovascular Cells Adhesion to Regulating “Spatiotemporal Orderliness of Function”: Understanding based on Biomaterials Surface Modification with Functional Molecules

Conjugating functional molecules onto the cardiovascular biomaterials surface to obtain the selective
cell adhesion is the mainstream strategy currently. The concept of authority is more inclined to
promote endothelial cells (EC) to grow directly on the materials surface but inhibit smooth muscle
cells (SMC) growth. However, our recent research discovered that EC might not directly contact the
implants surface at all, and the endothelial monolayer formed depended on the contractile SMC, and
macrophages of M2 phenotype contributed to inducing contractile SMC to cover the biomaterials
surface. Here, we proposed a concept of “spatiotemporal orderliness of function”, aiming at revealing
the interaction of cardiovascular cells and the biomaterials surface during the formation of endothelial
monolayer. This novel concept is anticipated to contribute to the surface design of new generation
cardiovascular implant materials.