Ceramic bioactivity and related biomimetic strategy

Bioactivity a property displayed by ceramics such as Bioglass®, hydroxyapatite and glass-ceramic A–W is a surface property, which provides a chemical integration of synthetic materials with living tissue. A core mechanism of bioactivity is the biomineralization of calcium phosphate nano-crystals on ceramics with specific compositions and structures, inspiring acellular and protein-free biomimetic strategies for bio-interactive materials with new physical, chemical and biological functions, e.g., bioactive surface functionalizations on tough metallic and ceramic materials, sol–gel derivation of bioactive ceramic-polymer nano-hybrids and textured biomimetic depositions of nano-calcium phosphate on polymer templates. This paper reviews these forms of bioactivity both in vivo and in vitro and considers perspectives in tissue engineering.