Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-pwrkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-23T03:07:31.405Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Developing Bio-Stable and Biodegradable Composites for Tissue Replacement and Tissue Regeneration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Min Wang*
Affiliation:
Rehabilitation Engineering Centre, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Get access

Abstract

Bone is the substantial unit of human skeletal system, which supports the body and its movement. At the ultra-structure level, the bone matrix is a composite material consisting of bone mineral particles, which are mainly substituted, calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite, and collagen, which is a natural polymer. Bone serves as the template for developing bone replacement materials. Research on biomaterials analogous to bone was started in the early 1980s by incorporating bioactive particles into biocompatible polymers so as to produce bone substitutes. Over the last two decades, a variety of bioactive polymer matrix composites have been developed for tissue substitution and tissue regeneration. The bioactive phases in these composites are normally one of the calcium phosphates, especially synthetic hydroxyapatite (HA, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) which closely resembles bone apatite and exhibits osteoconductivity. If enhanced bioactivity is required, bioceramics having higher bioactivity such as Bioglass® and A-W glass-ceramic can be used as the bioactive phase in the composites. For tissue replacement, bio-stable polymers such as polyethylene (PE) and polysulfone (PSU) are used as the matrix polymer. For tissue regeneration, natural, biodegradable polymers such as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and chitin are used as matrices. Furthermore, mechanical as well as biological performance of a particular composite can be controlled by varying the amount of the bioactive phase in the composite, thus meeting specific clinical requirements. For bioactive ceramic-polymer composites, major influencing factors such as shape, size and size distribution of bioactive particles, mechanical properties and volume percentage of the bioactive phase, properties of the matrix polymer, distribution of bioactive particles in the matrix and the particle-matrix interfacial state should be controlled in order to obtain materials of desirable properties. Various techniques are used to evaluate the composites.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Bonfield, W., Metals and Materials, Vol.3 (1987), 712716 Google Scholar
2. Bonfield, W., Wang, M., Tanner, K.E., Acta Materialia, Vol.46 (1998), 25092518 Google Scholar
3. Bonfield, W., Bioceramics, Vol.8, (1995), 375380 Google Scholar
4. Park, J.B., Biomaterials: An Introduction, Plenum Press, New York, (1979)Google Scholar
5. Evans, F.G., Lebow, M., American Journal of Surgery, Vol.83 (1952), 326331 Google Scholar
6. Gibson, L.J., Ashby, M.F., Cellular Solids: Structure and Properties, 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, (1997)Google Scholar
7. Bonfield, W., Grynpas, M.D., Tully, A.E., Bowman, J., Abram, J., Biomaterials, Vol.2 (1981), 185186 Google Scholar
8. Wang, M., Porter, D., Bonfield, W., British Ceramic Transactions, Vol.93 (1994), 9195 Google Scholar
9. Tang, F., Wang, M., Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Processing and Fabrication of Advanced Materials, Singapore, (1999), 299306 Google Scholar
10. Wang, M., Bonfield, W., Polymer Processing Towards AD2000, Singapore, (1996), 203204 Google Scholar
11. Wang, M., Joseph, R., Bonfield, W., Biomaterials, Vol.19 (1998), 23572366 Google Scholar
12. Tang, F., Ng, C.H., Wang, M., Proceedings of the International Conference on Thermophysical Properties of Materials, Singapore, (1999), 502508 Google Scholar
13. Wang, M., Berry, C., Braden, M., Bonfield, W., Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, Vol.9 (1998), 621624 Google Scholar
14. Fung, Y.C., Biomechanics: Mechanical Properties of Living Tissues, 2nd Edition, Springer-Verlag, New York, (1993)Google Scholar
15. Suwanprateeb, J., Tanner, K.E., Turner, S., Bonfield, W., Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, Vol.6 (1995), 804807 Google Scholar
16. Suwanprateeb, J., Tanner, K.E., Turner, S., Bonfield, W., Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, Vol.8 (1997), 469472 Google Scholar
17. Wang, M., Chua, B., Tang, F., Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Singapore, (2000), 219220 Google Scholar
18. Neo, M.C., Chandrasekaran, M., Wang, M., Loh, N.L., Bonfield, W., Bioceramics, Vol.12, (1999), 449452 Google Scholar
19. Huang, J., L.Di Silvio, Wang, M., Tanner, K.E., Bonfield, W., Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, Vol.8 (1997), 775779 Google Scholar
20. Bonfield, W., Behiri, J.C., Doyle, C., Bowman, J., Abram, J., in Biomaterials and Biomechanics, Edited by Ducheyne, P., Perre, G.Van der and Aubert, A.E., Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, (1984), 421426 Google Scholar
21. Bonfield, W., Luklinska, Z.B., in The Bone-Biomaterial Interface, Edited by Davies, J.E., University of Toronto Press, Toronto, (1991), 8993 Google Scholar
22. Downs, R.N., Vardy, S., Tanner, K.E., Bonfield, W., Bioceramics, Vol.4, (1991), 239246 Google Scholar
23. Tanner, K.E., Downes, R.N., Bonfield, W., British Ceramic Transactions, Vol.93 (1994), 104107 Google Scholar
24. Swain, R.E., Wang, M., Beale, B., Bonfield, W., Biomedical Engineering: Applications, Basis & Communications, Vol.11 (1999), 315320 Google Scholar
25. Wang, M., Ward, I.M., Bonfield, W., Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Composite Materials, Gold Coast, Australia, (1997), Vol.1, 488495 Google Scholar
26. Wang, M., Deb, S., Tanner, K.E., Bonfield, W., Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Composite Materials, London, U.K., (1996), Vol.2, 455460 Google Scholar
27. Black, J., Hastings, G., (eds.), Handbook of Biomaterial Properties, Chapman & Hall, London, (1998)Google Scholar
28. Chua, B., Wang, M., MRS Symposium Proceedings, Vol.599, (1999), 4550 Google Scholar
29. Wang, M., Bonfield, W., Hench, L.L., Bioceramics, Vol.8, (1995), 383388 Google Scholar
30. Wang, M., Kokubo, T., Bonfield, W., Bioceramics, Vol.9, (1996), 387390 Google Scholar
31. Wang, M., Wang, C.X., Weng, J., Ni, J., Transactions of the 6th World Biomaterials Congress, Hawaii, USA, (2000), 81 Google Scholar
32. Wang, M., Weng, J., Goh, C.H., Ni, J., Wang, C.X., Bioceramics, Vol.13, (2000), 741744 Google Scholar
33. Weng, J., Wang, M., Bioceramics, Vol.13, (2000), 657660 Google Scholar