Abstract
Montmorillonite (MMT) has attracted widespread attention in the field of bone tissue engineering in recent years because of its interlayer domain structure. The progress of MMT application was reviewed in this article. Concretely, the application of MMT was mainly explained from the structural characteristics, mechanical strengthening mechanism, organic functionalization, and drug loading and release. Firstly, the polar polymer molecular chains are easily induced into the interlayer domain of MMT to form an interlock and achieve the mechanical strengthening of scaffold. Secondly, the “sandwich” sheet structure of MMT can be exfoliated into graphene-like MMT nanosheets, providing a nanostrengthening effect for polymer matrix. In addition, MMT’s interlayer domain provides a favorable environment for the loading and slow release of drugs, and it is an ideal platform for the functionalization of bone scaffolds. More importantly, MMT can be easily modified by cation exchange and chemical reaction to further improve the compatibility of composites: such as strengthening mechanical interlocking and nanostrengthening effects and achieving controllable loading and release of drugs. It is expected to provide a reference for improving the application of bone tissue engineering scaffolds.
Highlights
With the increase in traffic accidents and the accelerated aging of the population, the demand for defective tissues, especially bone tissues, is increasing in recent years
Autologous bone transplantation is still the gold standard for bone defect repair, its application is limited to a certain extent due to its limited materials, increased surgical trauma, and susceptibility to infection at the bone site [1, 2]
In tetrahedral crystals, trivalent Al3+ can replace tetravalent Si4+, and Al3+ in octahedral crystals can be replaced by divalent Mg2+, so that a large number of negative charges are generated in the interlayer domain of MMT
Summary
With the increase in traffic accidents and the accelerated aging of the population, the demand for defective tissues, especially bone tissues, is increasing in recent years. The threedimensional porous artificial bone made of biodegradable materials has many unique advantages: (1) It has a shape and structure that matches the defected part and has sufficient mechanical properties to carry the stress transfer of the damaged part; (2) it has good osteogenic properties to induce cell growth and osteogenic differentiation, without rejection; (3) It has a suitable degradation rate, which makes room for new tissue until it is completely absorbed, and realizes the repair and functional reconstruction of the bone defect [5, 6]. The rich cations between the layers of the MMT crystal structure have strong ion exchange capacity, which can induce the insertion of ionic polymer molecules into the interlayer domains of its “sandwich” structure through intercalation In this way, molecular cross-linking bridges are used to achieve interlocking with the matrix, further enhancing the mechanical properties of the bone scaffold [24,25,26,27]. Future prospects and development challenges for the application of MMT in bone tissue engineering are prospected
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