Spotlight on Bioactive Glasses and Their Related Composites

Dear Colleagues,

Bioactive glasses are receiving increasing attention due to their extraordinary properties. In fact, the demand for new materials suitable for the healing of tissue and bone is dramatically increasing due to world population ageing. For this reason, in the last decades, several studies have attempted to produce high performance materials with enhanced biological responses.

Bioactive glasses are an attractive choice, as they are typically able to bond to bone more rapidly than other bioceramics. Since their discovery, bioactive glasses have opened unimaginable scenarios in the field of tissue regeneration, mainly thanks to their osteoinductive and osteoconductive characteristics and also their capability of bonding to soft connective tissues.

Moreover, it is possible to tailor the properties of such materials by selectively varying the composition and thus controlling the degradation rate in accordance with the rate of new tissue formation. Furthermore, the addition of specific ions can have a beneficial effect, for example in terms of antibacterial properties. Additionally, bioactive glasses can promote angiogenesis, neovascularisation, osteoblasts proliferation, new bone growth, hemostasis and even wound healing.

The combination, by varying the volume fractions of the two constituents, of bioactive glass with other materials such as polymers opens new possibilities for the production of hybrid composites with properties tailored for specific clinical applications.

Bioglasses and their related composites can be produced in varoius forms, such as granules, scaffolds, moldable implants, and surface coatings, useful for many applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

For these reasons, it is my immense pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue. Full research articles, short communications and reviews are welcome, related (but not limited to) the following topics: design and production of innovative bioactive glasses and/or their related composites; in vivo and in vitro studies; characterization and modeling of properties; functionalization of these systems.

Assoc. Prof. Valeria Cannillo
Guest Editor

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