Bone healing presents a major challenge during regeneration: designing implants and grafts with enough vascular support to prevent tissue death and promote integration. Therefore, researchers at the Nanobioengineering and Biomaterials Unit are breaking new ground, leveraging bioactive glass nanoparticles to stimulate blood vessel growth during bone healing. Through a extrussion 3D printing wet method, they’ve developed new polylactic acid (PLA) and calcium phosphate (CaP) glass composite scaffolds, achieving precise control over each scaffold’s structure, porosity, and texture. The early findings are exciting—these tailored PLA/CaP glass scaffolds are not only boosting the formation of blood vessels but also supporting the growth of mature, functional vessels. This advancement improves the way we heal bones with blood vessel guiding templates.
Combining three-dimensionality and CaP glass-PLA composites: Towards an efficient vascularization in bone tissue healing. Ximenes-Carballo C.; Rey-Viñolas S.; Blanco-Fernandez B.; Pérez-Amodio S.; Engel E.; Castano O. Biomaterials Advances. Volume 164, November 2024, 213985.