Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1.2. The evolution of biomaterials: several generations
Today, we can briefly differentiate four generations of
biomaterials:
1) The first generation started with humanity and was simply
restricted to the materials which were available in the natural
environment of the human being and used to simply repair organs.
2) The second is very long and started with the “history” of the
improvement of the human knowledge and finished in the middle of
the 20th century - this generation gained all the benefits from the
industrial revolution.
3) The third and actual generation started with the “birth” of
polymers as new and promising materials added to the fruit of
scientists' knowledge and research about materials and the way they
can be transformed or elaborated and the extraordinary living systems.
4) The fourth generation is in its beginnings and is a mixture of
dreams and realities.
Even if these four generations of biomaterials have been identified,
the duration of each one is very variable. The last 20 years have led to
so much progress in the disciplines involved in biomaterials science
that it is very difficult to schedule the duration of the last generation,
as well as imagining what the next one will be.
The use of biomaterials for therapeutic purposes such as the
repairing of wounded organs began a very long time ago. It was at
first strictly linked to the accessibility of people to “materials”, their
knowledge of the materials' properties as well as the methods and
processes they used to transform and develop them. As it is difficult to
date the beginning of the uses of biomaterials, this chapter will intend
to describe what we know about the first materials used with the aim
of repairing an organs or a part of an organ. We will also discover the
unlimited imagination of human beings as well as the diversity of
materials they used as “biomaterials” to prevent a deficiency and/or to
repair unhealthy or wounded tissues or organs.
