Bone cells grown on bioactive glass
(Credit: Imperial College)
This is one of the new ways to stimulate bone growth, still being developed by scientists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s world leading ISIS neutron source.
- A new type of porous glass is being developed which has ability to dissolve inside a human body.
- When this glass dissolves, it releases certain chemicals which subsequently stimulate bone growth.
- Chemicals that are released by the glass: Calcium and Silicon (Silicon is released to the adjacent body fluids)
- Right concentrations of these two chemicals causes certain genes in bone cells to activate - These genes are the ones that encode proteins controlling the bone cell cycle and the differentiation of the cell to form bone matrix and rapid mineralization of bone nodules - Therefore, the damaged bone is repaired with the addition of new bone cells.
- In order to occur this healing sequence accurately, the rate of glass surface reactions and controlled release of the ions should match with the time sequence of the cell cycle.
- Advantage 1: Bone transplants can be replaced from this technique.
- Advantage 2: Do not release any toxic substances into the body
According to the research paper this technique has previously been used by clinical trials:
“Although variants of these bioactive materials are already in clinical use, and the role of calcium in these materials was already understood as being critical in terms of both the stability of the glass and its bioactivity, no direct and quantitative study of the calcium atoms within the glass network had been undertaken. Using ISIS to study the relationship between these atoms and the host silicate glass via techniques unique to neutron diffraction has enabled us to move forward with the programme. The key outcome of our experiments has been a full understanding, at the level of atomic arrangements, of why it is that calcium is able so easily to leave the glass at the rate required to generate the desired response.”
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