Polymer-bioceramic composites for tissue engineering scaffolds

Calcium orthophosphate-based biocomposites and hybrid biomaterials

“…As a rule, the general behavior of these bioorganic/calcium orthophosphate composites is dependent on nature, structure, and relative contents of the constitutive components, although other parameters such as the preparation conditions also determine the properties of the final materials. Currently, biocomposites with calcium orthophosphates incorporated as either a filler or a coating (or both) either into or onto a biodegradable polymer matrix, in the form of particles or fibers, are increasingly considered for using as bone tissue engineering scaffolds due to their improved physical, biological, and mechanical properties [47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. In addition, such biocomposites could fulfill general Table 1 The biochemical composition of bone [32] The composition is varied from species to species and from bone to bone Inorganic phases wt% Bioorganic phases wt% Calcium orthophosphates (biological apatite) requirements to the next generation of biomaterials, those should combine the bioactive and bioresorbable properties to activate in vivo mechanisms of tissue regeneration, stimulating the body to heal itself and leading to the replacement of the implants by the regenerating tissue [46,54,55].…”

Poly-dl-lactic acid coated Bioglass® scaffolds: toughening effects and osteosarcoma cell proliferation

“…Moreover, as mentioned above and discussed in the literature [7,[10][11][12]23], polymeric coatings improve the mechanical strength and WoF of scaffolds (Fig. 5).…”

“…The results thus confirmed the effectiveness of PDLLA-coated Bioglass Ò -derived composite scaffolds to support HOS' cell function indicating their potential as osteoconductive substrates for bone TE. The scaffolds of this study belong to an emerging family of polymer-coated glass-ceramic bone tissue scaffolds [7]. Future experiments should be designed to compare the behaviours of these different scaffolds in relevant in vivo models.…”

“…residual porosity or microcracks, forming continuous bridges which should contribute to enhance the structural integrity of the scaffolds, e.g. impeding catastrophic crack propagation [7,11,12,23] and leading to a toughening effect. W-type scaffolds have higher porosity (85 ± 2%) than do B-type scaffolds (79 ± 1%) as shown elsewhere [10], and therefore a lower compression strength for W-type scaffolds is expected.…”

“…Composite materials made of inorganic bioactive materials combined with polymers represent a convenient family of biomaterials for scaffold fabrication and are receiving continuous attention for bone TE [5,6]. These composites may combine a polymer matrix with inorganic inclusions [6] or a porous bioactive ceramic or glass-ceramic structure with a biodegradable polymer coating [7].…”