A modified ink-jet printer can be used to directly print layer upon layer of artificial bone for quick-fix grafts used in reconstructive surgery.
Bone takes a long time to grow and repair, so treating serious damage or carrying out reconstructive procedures can be a slow and painstaking process. Writing in issue 6 of Advanced Materials, Jake Barralet of the Faculty of Dentistry, at McGill University, (Montréal, Québec) and Uwe Gbureck, Department for Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry, University of Würzburg, (Bavaria) and their team describe a method for "printing" artificial bone from the same chemical components as living bone and including biomolecules that trigger blood vessel growth to bring the bone to life after it is implanted in the body.
The process could be much more effective and less risky than removing sections of bone from elsewhere in the body for grafting on to an injured site.
The McGill - Würzburg team has demonstrated how an artificial bone can be constructed using the minerals brushite and hydroxyapatite instead of conventional "ink" in their printer. By printing one layer on top of another they can build up a highly porous 3D bioceramic material resembling bone at room temperature.
The team also adds natural chemicals to stimulate blood vessel growth - vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or copper sulphate. This allows them to incorporate into their model bone implants the necessary materials for stimulating blood vessel growth and allowing the artificial bone grafts to "grow" into the site being repaired.
Regenerative medicine is a growing field. Researchers are developing the various techniques that will allow them to construct tissues, including bone, muscle, and even whole organs, outside the human body for subsequent implantation. The biochemistry of tissue repair and integration of such engineered tissues does, however, complicate what would otherwise be a straightforward process of simply grafting the newly grown tissue on to the damage site.