Increased use of reconstruction procedures in orthopedics, due to trauma, tumor, deformity, degeneration and an aging population, has caused a blossom, not only in surgical advancement, but also in the development of bone implants. Traditional synthetic porous scaffolds are made of metals, polymers, ceramics or even composite biomaterials, in which the design does not consider the native structure and properties of cells and natural tissues. Thus, these synthetic scaffolds often poorly integrate with the cells and surrounding host tissue, thereby resulting in unsatisfactory surgical outcomes due to poor corrosion and wear, mechanical mismatch, unamiable surface environment, and other unfavorable properties. Musculoskeletal tissue reconstruction is the ultimate objective in orthopedic surgery. This objective can be achieved by (i) prosthesis or fixation device implantation, and (ii) tissue engineered bone scaffolds. These devices focus on the design of implants, regardless of the choice of new biomaterials. Indeed, metallic materials, e.g. 316L stainless steel, titanium alloys and cobalt chromium alloys, are predominantly used in bone surgeries, especially in the load-bearing zone of prostheses. The engineered scaffolds take biodegradability, cell biology, biomolecules and material mechanical properties into account, in which these features are ideally suited for bone tissue repair and regeneration. Therefore, the design of the scaffold is extremely important to the success of clinical outcomes in musculoskeletal surgeries. The ideal scaffolds should mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) as much as possible, since the ECM found in natural tissues supports cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation, indicating that scaffolds should consist of appropriate biochemistry and nano/micro-scale surface topographies, in order to formulate favorable binding sites to actively regulate and control cell and tissue behavior, while interacting with host cells. In addition, scaffolds should also possess a similar macro structure to what is found in natural bone. This feature may provide space for the growth of cells and new tissues, as well as for the carriers of growth factors. Another important concern is the mechanical properties of scaffolds. It has been reported that the mechanical features can significantly influence the osteointegration between implants and surrounding tissues, as well as cell behaviors. Since natural bone exhibits super-elastic biomechanical properties with a Young's modulus value in the range of 1–27 GPa, the ideal scaffolds should mimic strength, stiffness and mechanical behavior, so as to avoid possible post-operation stress shielding effects, which induce bone resorption and consequent implant failure. In addition, the rate of degradation and the by-products of biodegradable materials are also critical in the role of bone regeneration. Indeed, the mechanical integrity of a scaffold will be significantly reduced if the degradation rate is rapid, thereby resulting in a pre-matured collapse of the scaffold before the tissue is regenerated. Another concern is that the by-products upon degradation may alter the tissue microenvironment and then challenge the biocompatibility of the scaffold and the subsequent tissue repair. Therefore, these two factors should be carefully considered when designing new biomaterials for tissue regeneration. To address the aforementioned questions, an overview of the design of ideal biomimetic porous scaffolds is presented in this paper. Hence, a number of original engineering processes and techniques, including the production of a hierarchical structure on both the macro- and nano-scales, the adjustment of biomechanical properties through structural alignment and chemical components, the control of the biodegradability of the scaffold and its by-products, the change of biomimetic surface properties by altering interfacial chemistry, and micro- and nano-topographies will be discussed. In general, the concepts and techniques mentioned above provide insights into designing superior biomimetic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Biomimetic porous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Ti-based alloys are finding ever-increasing applications in biomaterials due to their excellent mechanical, physical and biological performance. Nowdays, low modulus β-type Ti-based alloys are still being developed. Meanwhile, porous Ti-based alloys are being developed as an alternative orthopedic implant material, as they can provide good biological fixation through bone tissue ingrowth into the porous network. This paper focuses on recent developments of biomedical Ti-based alloys. It can be divided into four main sections. The first section focuses on the fundamental requirements titanium biomaterial should fulfill and its market and application prospects. This section is followed by discussing basic phases, alloying elements and mechanical properties of low modulus β-type Ti-based alloys. Thermal treatment, grain size, texture and properties in Ti-based alloys and their limitations are dicussed in the third section. Finally, the fourth section reviews the influence of microstructural configurations on mechanical properties of porous Ti-based alloys and all known methods for fabricating porous Ti-based alloys. This section also reviews prospects and challenges of porous Ti-based alloys, emphasizing their current status, future opportunities and obstacles for expanded applications. Overall, efforts have been made to reveal the latest scenario of bulk and porous Ti-based materials for biomedical applications.

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New Developments of Ti-Based Alloys for Biomedical Applications

In recent years, bone tissue engineering has emerged as a promising solution to the limitations of current gold standard treatment options for bone related-disorders such as bone grafts. Bone tissue engineering provides a scaffold design that mimics the extracellular matrix, providing an architecture that guides the natural bone regeneration process. During this period, a new generation of bone tissue engineering scaffolds has been designed and characterized that explores the incorporation of signaling molecules in order to enhance cell recruitment and ingress into the scaffold, as well as osteogenic differentiation and angiogenesis, each of which is crucial to successful bone regeneration. Here, we outline and critically analyze key characteristics of successful bone tissue engineering scaffolds. We also explore candidate materials used to fabricate these scaffolds. Different growth factors involved in the highly coordinated process of bone repair are discussed, and the key requirements of a growth factor delivery system are described. Finally, we concentrate on an analysis of scaffold-based growth factor delivery strategies found in the recent literature. In particular, the incorporation of two-phase systems consisting of growth factor-loaded nanoparticles embedded into scaffolds shows great promise, both by providing sustained release over a therapeutically relevant timeframe and the potential to sequentially deliver multiple growth factors.

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Bone tissue engineering via growth factor delivery: from scaffolds to complex matrices

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1187&context=dentistry_fac

Porous magnesium-based scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Titanium implants are widely used in the orthopedic and dentistry fields for many decades, for joint arthroplasties, spinal and maxillofacial reconstructions, and dental prostheses. However, despite the quite satisfactory survival rates failures still exist. New Ti-alloys and surface treatments have been developed, in an attempt to overcome those failures. This review provides information about new Ti-alloys that provide better mechanical properties to the implants, such as superelasticity, mechanical strength, and corrosion resistance. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo studies, which investigate the biocompatibility and cytotoxicity of these new biomaterials, are introduced. In addition, data regarding the bioactivity of new surface treatments and surface topographies on Ti-implants is provided. The aim of this paper is to discuss the current trends, advantages, and disadvantages of new titanium-based biomaterials, fabricated to enhance the quality of life of many patients around the world.

/pdf/new-ti-alloys-and-surface-modifications-to-improve-the-1sxt5d5kyt.pdf

New Ti-Alloys and Surface Modifications to Improve the Mechanical Properties and the Biological Response to Orthopedic and Dental Implants: A Review.

A kind of porous metal-entangled titanium wire material has been investigated in terms of the pore structure (size and distribution), the strength, the elastic modulus, and the mechanical behavior under uniaxial tensile loading. Its functions and potentials for surgical application have been explained. In particular, its advantages over competitors (e.g., conventional porous titanium) have been reviewed. In the study, a group of entangled titanium wire materials with non-woven structure were fabricated by using 12–180 MPa forming pressure, which have porosity in a range of 48%–82%. The pores in the materials are irregular in shape, which have a nearly half-normal distribution in size range. The yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elastic modulus are 75 MPa, 108 MPa, and 1.05 GPa, respectively, when its porosity is 44.7%. The mechanical properties decrease significantly as the porosity increases. When the porosity is 57.9%, these values become 24 MPa, 47.5 MPa, and 0.33 GPa, respectively. The low elastic modulus is due to the structural flexibility of the entangled titanium wire materials. For practical reference, a group of detailed data of the porous structure and the mechanical properties are reported. This kind of material is very promising for implant applications because of their very good toughness, perfect flexibility, high strength, adequate elastic modulus, and low cost.

Porous titanium materials with entangled wire structure for load-bearing biomedical applications.

Two types of entangled titanium wire materials (ETWMs) have been fabricated through different procedures. Their entangled structure, compressive mechanical properties, and strain hysteresis behavior have been investigated. The experiment has demonstrated that the entangled wire structure can be adjusted when different fabrication methods are applied. The entangled wire morphologies can be normal entangled wires or coiled wires, and the pore size distributions are alternative so as to adapt the entangled wire morphology. The ETWMs with normal wire exhibit 2.6 ± 0.1 to 31.1 ± 0.8 MPa yield strength and 135.3 ± 2.9 to 816.5 ± 8.4 MPa Young's modulus in the range of 77.6 ± 0.2% to 47.8 ± 0.4% porosity. While the ETWMs with coiled wire exhibit 1.1 ± 0.1 to 19.1 ± 0.5 MPa yield strength and 27.4 ± 0.5 to 623.2 ± 5.8 MPa Young's modulus in the same porosity range. The two types of the ETWMs reveal significant strain hysteresis effect, which becomes stronger as the porosity increases. The coiled wire in the entangled wire structure improves the hysteresis effect. Such pseudo-elastic hysteresis behavior and the damping and energy dissipation capability are very promising for applications in engineering, biomedicine, aviation, astronavigation, and other industries.

Compressive and pseudo-elastic hysteresis behavior of entangled titanium wire materials

Quasi-ordered entangled aluminum alloy wire materials with nominal porosity of 57–77% have been fabricated by assembling a set of aluminum alloy wires with diameter of 0.28 mm. The as-prepared materials display three-stage stress–strain behavior under uniaxial compressive loading, i.e., initial nonlinear ‘quasi-elastic’ deformation, strain-hardening ‘pseudo-platform’ stage, and the final densifying stage. The experiment indicates that the structural deformation mechanism dominates the initial stress–strain behavior. At the elastic stage, the materials reveal a significant ‘strain-hysteresis effect’. The compressive yield strength and the elastic modulus exhibit a significant dependence of porosity, i.e., both decrease as the porosity increases. The data obey the typical power law relationship suggested by Gibson–Ashby.

Mechanical behaviors of quasi-ordered entangled aluminum alloy wire material

Entangled steel wire material with total porosities of 36.3–61.8% and pore sizes of 15–825 μm has been investigated in terms of uniaxial tensile behavior and mechanical properties. The entangled wire materials after sintering processing exhibit higher specific strength and higher toughness than other porous metals or metallic foams. The experimental observation shows that the dominant deformation and failure mechanisms for the materials are twisted wire stretching/orienting, joints breaking and the entangled wire structure loosing. Under tensile loading the sintered entangled steel wire materials with 36.3% porosity exhibit average 15.0 MPa yielding strength, 112.7 MPa ultimate strength, and 7.5 GPa Young's modulus. With 61.8% porosity, the sintered materials have 7.5 MPa yield strength, 40.1 MPa ultimate strength, and 2.7 GPa Young's modulus.

Ping Liu

Papers

Porous titanium materials with entangled wire structure for load-bearing biomedical applications.

Compressive and pseudo-elastic hysteresis behavior of entangled titanium wire materials

Mechanical behaviors of quasi-ordered entangled aluminum alloy wire material

Uniaxial tensile stress–strain behavior of entangled steel wire material

Structure deformation and failure of sintered steel wire mesh under torsion loading