Hydroxyapatite Composites in Tissue Engineering

Abstract

In the last few decades, material sciences, particularly tissue engineering, have advanced significantly. Biomaterials, including bioceramics, such as hydroxyapatite and bioglass, have shown to be quite useful in a variety of biomedical applications. Naturally produced polymers of protein or carbohydrate origin have also been employed as scaffolds in tissue engineering for many years. Collagen has been the most widely researched natural polymer for scaffold creation. Besides, aliphatic synthetic polymers such as polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, and polycaprolactone are effective for scaffold fabrication. The improvements in material science have led to the procurement of biomaterials from natural sources, then processed using a variety of techniques, including porogen leaching, gas foaming, phase separation, fiber meshing, and three-dimensional printing. This generates a variety of three-dimensional scaffolds with various porosities and surface characteristics. When compared to the original components, hydroxyapatite composites have been proven to have superior characteristics. In the field of bone tissue repair and engineering, the biological performance of composites containing hydroxyapatite and other abundant natural biopolymers such as chitosan, collagen, gelatin, and cellulose is thoroughly investigated. This chapter discusses the various hydroxyapatite composite scaffolds utilized in in vitro and in vivo bone tissue engineering investigations, including their fabrication techniques.