Nature-Inspired Processes and Structures: New Paradigms to Develop Highly Bioactive Devices for Hard Tissue Regeneration

Abstract

Material scientists are increasingly looking to natural structures as inspiration for new-generation functional devices. Particularly in the medical field, the need to regenerate tissue defects claims, since decades, biomaterials with the ability to instruct cells toward formation and organization of new tissue. It is today increasingly accepted that biomimetics is a leading concept for biomaterials development. In fact, there is increasing evidence that the use of biomedical devices showing substantial mimicry of the composition and multi-scale structure of target native tissues have enhanced regenerative ability. As a relevant example, biomimetic materials have high potential to solve degenerative diseases affecting the musculoskeletal system, namely, bone, cartilage and articular tissues, which is of pivotal importance for most of human abilities, such as walking, running, manipulating, and chewing. In this respect, the adoption of nature-inspired processes and structures is an emerging fabrication concept, uniquely able to provide biomaterials with superior biological performance. The chapter will give an overview of the most recent results obtained in the field of hard tissue regeneration by using 3D biomaterials obtained by nature-inspired approaches. The main focus is given to porous hydroxyapatitebased ceramic or hybrid scaffolds for regeneration of bone and osteochondral tissues in neurosurgery and orthopedics.

The Significance and Utilisation of Biomimetic and Bioinspired Strategies in the Field of Biomedical Material Engineering: The Case of Calcium Phosphat—Protein Template Constructs

“…The fundamental aspects of biomineralisation may also prove important in terms of proposing new methodologies for the development of bioactive tri-dimensional templates with hierarchically ordered textures [54][55][56][57][58]. With respect to the healing of bone defects and tissue engineering matrices, scaffolds featuring porous interconnected networks with sufficient mechanical strength are required that can easily be pre-seeded with cells in the laboratory and invaded by tissue following implantation.…”

Magnetic and radio-labeled bio-hybrid scaffolds to promote and track in vivo the progress of bone regeneration

“…The hybrid scaffolds (HyS) involved in this study are obtained through biomineralization, the process which occurs in nature to form minerals in hybrid materials such as bone, and closely mimic the native tissue chemical composition and their 3D porous morphology, required to host cells, to reconstruct new healthy tissue and allow the subsequent and progressive resorption of the implanted scaffold 3,5 . In particular, as they contain organic biopolymers and minerals, they have unique properties that give rise to complex architectures and functions 6,7 . In detail, bone-like hydroxyapatite nanocrystals are nucleated on self-assembling collagen fibers, the protein present in bone tissue and tendon, and serve as a template guiding the biomineralization process.…”

“…In detail, bone-like hydroxyapatite nanocrystals are nucleated on self-assembling collagen fibers, the protein present in bone tissue and tendon, and serve as a template guiding the biomineralization process. The extent and morphology of the pores in the formed hybrid composite, usually ranging between 80 and 85%, can be customized by the final freeze-drying step 1,[6][7][8][9][10] . This synthetic process allows also the inclusion of foreign and mimetic ions in the hydroxyapatite crystals formed on collagen molecules.…”

Blending Gelatin and Cellulose Nanofibrils: Biocomposites with Tunable Degradability and Mechanical Behavior

“…This can be influenced by the scaffold’s chemical composition, stiffness, surface topography, geometry, and permeability. With the advancement of science in regenerative medicine, many efforts are directed to design smart bio-composites able to recruit cells directly on site and instruct them towards the different and complex tasks occurring within the regenerative cascade [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”