Biomimetic Nanoceramics In Clinical Use: From Materials To Applications (Rsc Nanoscience And Nanotechnology)

Recent developments in nanostructured materials have led to a shift in focus away from the replacement of tissues and towards regeneration. Nanoceramics with biomimetic properties have great potential in bone regeneration and new synthesis strategies have been developed to obtain materials with improved biocompatibility and multifunctional performance. The aim is to fully develop biocompatible implants, which exhibit biological responses at the nanometric scale in the same way as biogenic materials. Current man-made implants are not fully biocompatible and always result in a foreign-body reaction involving inflammatory response and fibrous encapsulation. Great efforts have been made to develop synthetic strategies that tailor implant surfaces at the nanometric scale. The intention is to optimize the interaction at the tissue/implant interface, thus improving the quality of life for patients, with the enhanced results and shorter rehabilitation periods.

About The Author:

Mar�a Vallet-Reg� was born in Las Palmas, Spain, in 1946. She studied Chemistry at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) and received her PhD at the same University in 1974. She is full professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Head of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Bioinorganic at the Faculty of Pharmacy (UCM). Her current research field is solid state chemistry, covering aspects of synthesis, characterisation and reactivity in oxides and bioceramics.

Daniel Arcos was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1971. He is holding a postdoctoral research position ('Ramón y Cajal' grant) at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Since completing his PhD in 2002 on the synthesis and evaluation of bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics, he has worked on the structural studies of silicon containing hydroxyapatites. Currently, his research is focused on mesoporous materials for biomedical applications