With rapidly aging populations worldwide,
osteoporosis has become
a serious global public health problem. Caused by disordered systemic
bone remodeling, osteoporosis manifests as progressive loss of bone
mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue, increasing
the risk of fractures and eventually leading to osteoporotic fragility
fractures. As fracture risk increases, antiosteoporosis treatments
transition from nonpharmacological management to pharmacological intervention,
and finally to the treatment of fragility fractures. Calcium-based
nanomaterials (CBNMs) have unique advantages in osteoporosis treatment
because of several characteristics including similarity to natural
bone, excellent biocompatibility, easy preparation and functionalization,
low pH-responsive disaggregation, and inherent pro-osteogenic properties.
By combining additional ingredients, CBNMs can play multiple roles
to construct antiosteoporotic biomaterials with different forms. This
review covers recent advances in CBNMs for osteoporosis treatment.
For ease of understanding, CBNMs for antiosteoporosis treatment can
be classified as locally applied CBNMs, such as implant coatings and
filling materials for osteoporotic bone regeneration, and systemically
administered CBNMs for antiosteoporosis treatment. Locally applied
CBNMs for osteoporotic bone regeneration develop faster than the systemically
administered CBNMs, an important consideration given the serious outcomes
of fragility fractures. Nevertheless, many innovations in construction
strategies and preparation methods have been applied to build systemically
administered CBNMs. Furthermore, with increasing interest in delaying
osteoporosis progression and avoiding fragility fracture occurrence,
research into systemic administration of CBNMs for antiosteoporosis
treatment will have more development prospects. Deep understanding
of the CBNM preparation process and optimizing CBNM properties will
allow for increased application of CBNMs in osteoporosis treatments
in the future.