Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
on a hip joint is up to three times body weight (3000 N) and peak
load during jumping can be as high as ~10 times body weight. More
importantly, these stresses are repetitive and fluctuating, depending
on the activities, such as standing, sitting, jogging, stretching and
climbing. All of these require careful designing of biomaterials
in terms of composition, shape, physical and biocompatibility
properties. Therefore, a significant challenge is the rational design
of human biomaterials based on a systematic evaluation of desired
biological, chemical and engineering requirements [44].
Nevertheless, the field of biomaterials is in the midst of a
revolutionary change in which the life sciences are becoming equal
in importance to materials science and engineering as the foundation
of the field. Simultaneously, advances in engineering (for example
nanotechnology) are greatly increasing the sophistication with
which biomaterials are designed and have allowed fabrication of
biomaterials with increasingly complex functions [59]. Specifically,
during last ~40 years, calcium orthophosphate bioceramics has
become an integral and vital segment of our modern health care
delivery system. In the modern fields of the third generation
bioceramics (Hench) or BIOceramics (Anderson), the full potential of
calcium orthophosphates has only begun to be recognized. Namely,
calcium orthophosphates, which were intended as osteoconductive
bioceramics in the past, stand for materials to fabricate osteoinductive
implants nowadays [177, 459, 504, 608-621]. The initial steps in
this direction have been already made by both fabricating BCP-
based scaffolds for bone tissue engineering through the design
of controlled 3D-porous structures and increasing the biological
activity through development of novel ion-substituted calcium
orthophosphate bioceramics [12, 461]. In future, the composition,
microstructure and molecular surface chemistry of various types
of calcium orthophosphates will be tailored to match the specific
biological and metabolic requirements of tissues or disease states.
This new generation of calcium orthophosphate bioceramics should
enhance the quality of life of millions of people, as they grow older
[783].
In spite of the great progress, there is still a great potential for
major advances to be made in the field of calcium orthophosphate
bioceramics [5]. This includes requirements for
∑
Improvement of the mechanical performance of existing types
of bioceramics.
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