Biomaterials and Their Biomedical Applications: From Replacement to Regeneration

Abstract

The history of biomaterials dates back to the mists of time: human beings had always used exogenous materials to facilitate wound healing and try to restore damaged tissues and organs. Nowadays, a wide variety of materials are commercially available and many others are under investigation to both maintain and restore bodily functions. Emerging clinical needs forced the development of new biomaterials, and lately discovered biomaterials allowed for the performing of new clinical applications. The definition of biomaterials as materials specifically conceived for biomedical uses was raised when it was acknowledged that they have to possess a fundamental feature: biocompatibility. At first, biocompatibility was mainly associated with biologically inert substances; around the 1970s, bioactivity was first discovered and the definition of biomaterials was consequently extended. At present, it also includes biologically derived materials and biological tissues. The present work aims at walking across the history of biomaterials, looking towards the scientific literature published on this matter. Finally, some current applications of biomaterials are briefly depicted and their future exploitation is hypothesized.

A New Detergent for the Effective Decellularization of Bovine and Porcine Pericardia

“…Decellularized porcine pericardium has also proved promising when combined with synthetic materials, i.e., polycarbonate urethane, improving its mechanical strength and impermeability [ 32 , 33 ].…”

Probing the Structure, Cytocompatibility, and Antimicrobial Efficacy of Silver-, Strontium-, and Zinc-Doped Monetite

“…In recent decades, the role of biomaterials has advanced from being solely biocompatible materials that would replace biological tissue without triggering adverse effects (bioinert) to being bioactive functional materials that would also stimulate the body to regenerate its function (healing or therapeutic effect) or have precautionary effects (antimicrobial). − This drastically increased the importance of biocompatible resorbable materials and the investigations on the safe usage of antimicrobial precautionary elements such as silver, zinc, iron, and gold. − …”

Advances in the characterization of inorganic solids using NMR correlation experiments

“…Biomaterials are those materials interacting with biological systems. Modern applications of biomaterials include joint replacements, dental implants, tissue engineering (including bone repair) and the emerging field of "smart" biomaterials, that are capable of modifying their physicochemical and mechanical properties in response to external stimuli 380,381 . Inorganic biomaterials notably include calcium phosphates, such as hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) and tricalcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2), which are present in natural bones but are also used in the fabrication of components for the repair and reconstruction of damaged parts of the musculoskeletal system, but also due to their presence in 382,383 .…”