11 - Bioactive glass composites for bone and musculoskeletal tissue engineering

Abstract

Bioactive glass composites, composed of a bioactive glass phase and another solid phase, typically a biodegradable polymer, can provide significant property and manufacturing advantages over the individual biomaterials for use in bone and musculoskeletal tissue engineering. While bioactive glasses have been studied and applied for more than five decades, bioactive glass composites have received far less attention. Advances in the last 10–15 years are generating heightened interest in the use of bioactive glass composites, particularly in bone tissue engineering. Successful applications of bioactive glass composites will benefit from the attractive properties of bioactive glasses (bioactivity, mechanical strength, stimulation of gene expression) while avoiding the disadvantages (brittleness; difficulties of forming into anatomically relevant shapes). This chapter will describe the materials science of bioactive glass composites, the in vitro and in vivo performance of these composites, and emerging developments in their use in bone and musculoskeletal tissue engineering.