Abstract:
More than 200 bones provide vital functions to the human body. The unique
regenerative capacity of bone allows the healing without structural or functional
impairment in case of minor defects, while in case of major defects, bone tissue
engineering (based on a scaffold, cells and bioactive factors) can be seen as an alternative
to the conventional methods. Composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering based on
biopolymers and ceramics, the main components of human bone, successfully combined
the key properties of the two biomaterials, as is reported in the present paper. The
inclusion of magnetite in the scaffolds brings also great advantages, and moreover,
functionalized with drugs, will make possible its use as targeted drug delivery systems.