Scientists in Korea have successfully prepared three-dimensional bioactive glasses and shown that they have good bone-forming bioactivity. 

In the past, bioactive glasses have been widely studied due to their ability to chemically bond with living bone tissue. As a result they have been used in a variety of medical applications. However, scientists have so far been unable to use them for tissue regeneration because their meso-sized pores are too small to promote cell seeding, migration, and tissue growth. 

Motivated by the need to find a practical solution for bone regeneration, Hui-suk Yun and colleagues from the Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials have designed a new bioactive scaffold that contains much larger pores. This promotes the growth of cells and the loading of bioactive active agents, which in tern accelerates bone forming activity. 

'We have used hints from human bone and have tried to imitate its hierarchical pore structure by using a combination of synthetic techniques,' said Yun. 

The team's next challenge is to develop multi-functional 3D tissue scaffold materials which contain tissue regeneration ability as well as self-mediation and self-healing ability. 

Jenna Wilson