Development of mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles and its use in bone tissue engineering

The incidence of bone disorders, from trauma, tissue degeneration due to ageing, pathological conditions to cancer, has been increasing. The pursuit for bone graft substitutes to assist in regenerating large bone defects is ever growing as a result of the shortage in conventional autografts and allografts, in addition to the associated risks of disease transmission. However, the use of alloplastic biomaterials is limited in clinical settings, as further investigations are required to address the properties of synthetic grafts to mimic the native bone tissue and deliver desirable biomolecules to facilitate bone regeneration. This review discusses the fundamental structure and properties of bone with the emphasis on organic and inorganic components that are important for the biomaterial design. The main focus will be on the advancement and usage of bioactive glass (BG) for bone tissue engineering due to its similarity to the natural inorganic constituent of bone. The various BG synthetic processes, modifications of composition, as well as the biomolecule delivery will be discussed in great detail. As the properties of BG are tuneable according to clinical needs, it creates a new paradigm in addition to displaying its superior potential for bone tissue engineering and translational medicine in the field of orthopedic surgery. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 2878-2887, 2018.