2022, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (21): 3401-3409

Advantage of mesoporous materials in bone repair

Gao Feifei1, Du Bin2, Liu Xin2, Chen Hao1, Chen Yang1, Hou Wei1   

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Mesoporous materials are characterized by high specific surface area, high entrance, and continuous aperture control, and good control-released carrier materials. Its application in the field of bone repair is various.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the application of mesoporous materials in bone repair.
METHODS: The first author searched the relevant articles in PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wanfang databases from January 1990 to April 2021 with the search terms of “mesoporous nanoparticles, biological materials, control release, bone regeneration, mesoporous materials, support material, nanomaterials, porous materials” in English and “biomaterials, mesoporous materials, bone regeneration, bone repair, drug controlled release, scaffold materials, nanomaterials, porous materials” in Chinese. A total of 72 articles were finally included for analysis and summary.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Mesoporous materials have unique advantages for bone defect diseases. The mesoporous low nanometer pore size can effectively control the long-term and stable release of drugs (such as bone morphogenetic protein and gentamicin). Some mesoporous materials can not only be absorbed by organisms, but also have osteoinductive activity to promote bone formation. Some materials not only have high mechanical strength, but also have excellent characteristics such as light weight. (2) At present, the main types of materials that have been studied in this area are: silicon-based materials, carbon materials, hydroxyapatite, bioglass, and metal materials. These materials have stable structure, easy surface functionalization, good biocompatibility, and good mechanical properties, which make these materials become excellent materials for repairing bone defects. (3) In silicon-based materials, the hollow microsphere structure of silicon dioxide makes it carry a large amount of drug, and the silicate materials can be absorbed by organisms or integrated with bones. (4) There are two types of mesoporous carbon materials. One is mesoporous carbon microspheres, which are hollow spheres with a large drug loading capacity and can be metabolized by organisms. The other is mesoporous carbon nanotubes, which have extremely high mechanical strength, light weight and electrical conductivity. It has a certain osteoinductive ability and can be used as a bone replacement material, which makes it the most promising bone repair material, and even replaces defective limbs as a new type of biological prosthesis. (5) Hydroxyapatite presents osteoconductivity and has been widely used in the clinical treatment of bone repair (such as dental restoration materials). After its mesoporous loading of bone morphogenetic protein, it can not only promote bone regeneration and hydroxyapatite can be absorbed by organisms when it is implanted in non-weight-bearing bone defects. (6) The degradation products of mesoporous bioglass, that is, the third generation of bioglass, in the body have the properties of promoting osteogenesis. Due to the synthetic diversity of such materials, its enhanced structural functions and good biocompatibility make it the best bone repair materials. (7) Research on the use of metal materials as bone substitute materials found that after researchers mesoporated the surface of metal implants, even without drugs, the osteoblasts on the surface of the implants cling better than ordinary implants.
Key words: mesoporous materials, biomaterials, bone regeneration, bone repair, drug controlled release, scaffold materials, nanomaterials, porous materials