Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to wait months for broken bones to heal, trapped in bulky casts for what seems like forever? Perhaps we’re steadily creeping towards such an ideal future, with promising developments in materials science. A team in France, for example, has just come up with a foamy cement which, when injected into bones, could not only help fix an injury but also encourage new bone formation.
It’s based around calcium phosphate, a family of minerals that includes hydroxyapatite, which makes up around 70 percent of our bones. Back in the '80s, scientists created so-called calcium phosphate cements (CMCs), which have been increasingly recognized for their potential as bone substitutes. That’s because they display an array of desirable properties, such as being injectable and compatible with our bodies.
They’re also intrinsically porous materials, which is ideal in this situation because this allows minerals to flow into, and waste to flow out of, the implant site, facilitating speedy bone regeneration. But the problem scientists have faced is that these holes aren’t big enough to permit bone cells to penetrate deep into the area, or to allow the development of new blood vessels into the healing bone.
more
This Incredible Injectable Material Could Fix Broken Bones | IFLScience
It’s based around calcium phosphate, a family of minerals that includes hydroxyapatite, which makes up around 70 percent of our bones. Back in the '80s, scientists created so-called calcium phosphate cements (CMCs), which have been increasingly recognized for their potential as bone substitutes. That’s because they display an array of desirable properties, such as being injectable and compatible with our bodies.
They’re also intrinsically porous materials, which is ideal in this situation because this allows minerals to flow into, and waste to flow out of, the implant site, facilitating speedy bone regeneration. But the problem scientists have faced is that these holes aren’t big enough to permit bone cells to penetrate deep into the area, or to allow the development of new blood vessels into the healing bone.
more
This Incredible Injectable Material Could Fix Broken Bones | IFLScience
