Development of sol-gel silica-based 3D printable materials with tunable degradation, mechanical properties and drug release capacity for tissue engineering

Abstract

The bone is a very complex organ that participates in multiple critical functions for the human body. Bone can be affected by different health issues, such as physical trauma or tumor, and the body cannot regenerate large bone defects by itself. Nowadays, grafting is the main therapy, which is the replacement of missing bone with a graft. However, the use of grafts has some drawbacks, such as a limited availability, tissue rejection, donor site morbidity and infection. For this reason, Tissue Engineering has focused on the development of synthetic grafts in the form of scaffolds which are three dimensional porous structures that provide a 3D environment for the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of cells to produce new bone.