Applications in Bone Tissue Engineering

As it was previously mentioned, human body tissues and structures may suffer a variety of destructive processes, including fracture, infection and even cancer, causing pain and loss of function. Under these circumstances, it may be possible to remove the diseased tissue and replace it with some suitable synthetic material [20]. One of the most important applications of biomaterials in medicine are the orthopedic implant devices and the lost bone tissue replacement. In this sense, the most used polymeric biomaterial is PMMA. Due to its biocompatible nature and tuneable mechanical properties, it has been widely used as bone cements and as screws in bone fixation. This is one of the main reasons why PMMA and its derivatives have been successfully used in vertebroplasty and are the most common adhesive to anchor prostheses. 

PMMA is a versatile material because of its transparency and durability, and it has been widely used in a broad range of fields, such as lenses for glasses, panels for building windows, skylights, signs and displays, liquid-crystal displays (LCD), and furniture. Different methacrylate polymers are extensively used in medical and dental devices where purity and stability are critical to performance. 

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Details are given of the biocompatibility of hydroxybutyrate-hydroxyhexanoate copolymer with bone marrow stromal cells in vitro. The adsorption of fibronectin on the material was studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The wettability and thermal properties of copolymer films were also studied by contact angle goniometer, TGAand DSC. Potential applications in bone tissue engineering are mentioned. 37 refs. 

In Novel Bioactive Hydroxyapatite-Base Ceramics and Gelatin-Impregnated Composites, V.S. Komlev and S.M. Barinov introduce a study aimed at the development of novel ceramic and composite materials intended for application in bone tissue engineering. A method to... 

Wang, Y., Guo, G., Chen, H., Gao, X., Fan, R., Zhang, D., Zhou, L., 2014. Preparation and characterization of polylactide/poly (e-caprolactone)-poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (e-caprolactone) hybrid fibers for potential application in bone tissue engineering. International Journal of Nanomedicine 9, 1991. 

Carboxyme %1 chitosan/ PVA/HAp Cell culture test. Potential application in bone tissue engineering [177]... 

Ribeiro et al. (2009) evaluated the applicability of a chitosan hydrogel as a wound dressing. They isolated fibroblast cells fi om rat skin to assess the cytotoxicity of the hydrogel. The results showed that chitosan hydrogel was able to promote cell adhesion and proliferation. Chitosan sponges also find application in bone tissue engineering, as a filling material [23]. 

V. E. Santo, A. M. Frias, M. Carida, R. Cancedda, M. E. Gomes, J. F. Mano, and R. L. Reis, Carrageenan-based hydrogels for the controlled delivery of PDGF-BB in bone tissue engineering applications, Biomacromolecules, 10 (2009) 1392-1401. 

Sunflower oil-based, hyperbranched polyurethane nanocomposites with functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes have been shown to increase tensile strength nearly twofold and toughness by about 50%. Early in vitro studies highlight the potential for these composites to improve osteolytic activity to accelerate bone growth in bone tissue engineering applications [79]. 

It has been reported that chitin-chitosan/nano Ti02-composite scaffolds has wide applications in tissue engineering field [85]. Current research has developed a novel immunoassay strategy based on combination of chitosan and a gold nanoparticle label [86] which explored the unanimous role of chitosan in biochemical research. Further bioinspired mineralization of chitosan-based nanocomplexes encouraged its role in bone tissue engineering applications [87]. Fabrication of chitosan/ZnO... 

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