Characterization andIn VivoBiological Performance of Biosilicate

Abstract

After an introduction showing the growing interest in glasses and glass-ceramics as biomaterials used for bone healing, we describe a new biomaterial named Biosilicate. Biosilicate is the designation of a group of fully crystallized glass-ceramics of the Na₂O-CaO-SiO₂-P₂O₅system. Severalin vitrotests have shown that Biosilicate is a very active biomaterial and that the HCA layer is formed in less than 24 hours of exposure to “simulated body fluid” (SBF) solution. Also,in vitrostudies with osteoblastic cells have shown that Biosilicate disks supported significantly larger areas of calcified matrix compared to 45S5 Bioglass, indicating that this bioactive glass-ceramic may promote enhancement ofin vitrobone-like tissue formation in osteogenic cell cultures. Finally, due to its special characteristics, Biosilicate has also been successfully tested in severalin vivostudies. These studies revealed that the material is biocompatible, presents excellent bioactive properties, and is effective to stimulate the deposition of newly formed bone in animal models. All these data highlight the huge potential of Biosilicate to be used in bone regeneration applications.