Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Enhanced bioactivity in terms of gene activation.
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Improvement in the performance of biomedical coatings
in terms of their mechanical stability and ability to deliver
biological agents.
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Development of smart biomaterials capable of combining
sensing with bioactivity.
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Development of improved biomimetic composites.
Furthermore, still there are needs for a better understanding
of the biological systems. For example, the bonding mechanism
between the bone mineral and collagen remains unclear. It is also
unclear whether a rapid repair that is elicited by the new generation
of bioceramics is a result of the enhancement of mineralization
per
se
or whether there is a more complex signaling process involving
proteins in collagen. If we were able to understand the fundamentals
of bone response to specific ions and the signals they activate, then
we would be able to design better bioceramics for the future [5].
To finalize this chapter, it is completely obvious that the
present status of research and development in the field of calcium
orthophosphate bioceramics is still at the starting point for the
solution of new problems at the confluence of materials science,
biology and medicine, concerned with the restoration of damaged
functions in the human organisms. A large increase in active elderly
people has dramatically raised the need for load-bearing bone graft
substitutes, for example, for bone reconstruction during revision
arthroplasty or for the reinforcement of osteoporotic bones.
Strategies applied in the last four decades towards this goal have
failed. So new strategies, possibly based on self-assembling and/
or nanofabrication, will have to be proposed and developed [784].
Furthermore, in future, it should be feasible to design a new generation
of gene-activating calcium orthophosphate based scaffolds tailored
for specific patients and disease states. Perhaps, sometime bioactive
stimuli will be used to activate genes in a preventative treatment to
maintain the health of aging tissues. Currently this concept seems
impossible. However, we need to remember that only ~40 years ago
the concept of a material that would not be rejected by living tissues
also seemed impossible [599].
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