About this Research Topic
The recent advances in the field of bioactive glasses (BGs) and glass-ceramics have been impressive for the biomedical and medical communities. Up to now, various types of these materials have been developed and commercially produced. Due to the successful output of clinical trials, BGs are recognized as biocompatible substances for the human body.
Although the main application for these materials is hard tissue engineering, newly proposed applications focus on their use for the repair and regeneration of other human tissues, especially for soft tissue healing. Even more, they are being used for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma of the liver. The composition greatly determines the fate of BGs and glass-ceramics in the human body since it can direct the cell/tissue responses. As an illustration, it has been shown that BGs rapidly exchange their ions with the surrounding biological fluids leading to an increase of the pH in in vitro conditions, which has an adverse effect on cell survival. Biological responses can also be influenced by nano-texturing such as surface roughness or the presence of mesopores (e.g. in sol-gel BGs).
Accordingly, understanding the cellular interaction with these materials in vitro and in vivo is essential because it can affect the design and development of future work. Moreover, the influence of particle size on the final fate needs to comprehensively discussed.
With this Research Topic, we aim to collect articles that address all aspects of cell/tissue interactions with BGs and glass-ceramics in different formats including particles, scaffolds, fibers etc. The molecular mechanisms behind these interactions are of significant importance; hence, papers dealing with this subject are also welcome.
Although the main application for these materials is hard tissue engineering, newly proposed applications focus on their use for the repair and regeneration of other human tissues, especially for soft tissue healing. Even more, they are being used for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma of the liver. The composition greatly determines the fate of BGs and glass-ceramics in the human body since it can direct the cell/tissue responses. As an illustration, it has been shown that BGs rapidly exchange their ions with the surrounding biological fluids leading to an increase of the pH in in vitro conditions, which has an adverse effect on cell survival. Biological responses can also be influenced by nano-texturing such as surface roughness or the presence of mesopores (e.g. in sol-gel BGs).
Accordingly, understanding the cellular interaction with these materials in vitro and in vivo is essential because it can affect the design and development of future work. Moreover, the influence of particle size on the final fate needs to comprehensively discussed.
With this Research Topic, we aim to collect articles that address all aspects of cell/tissue interactions with BGs and glass-ceramics in different formats including particles, scaffolds, fibers etc. The molecular mechanisms behind these interactions are of significant importance; hence, papers dealing with this subject are also welcome.
Keywords: Bioactive glasses, Glass-ceramics, Cell interactions, Tissue responses, Tissue engineering
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
