Mesoporous bioglasses enriched with bioactive agents for bone repair, with a special highlight of Maria Vallet-Regi´s contribution

Abstract

Throughout her impressive scientific career, Prof. María Vallet-Regi opened various research lines aimed at designing new bioceramics, including mesoporous bioactive glasses for bone tissue engineering applica-tions. These bioactive glasses can be considered a spinoff of silica mesoporous materials because they are designed with a similar technical approach. Both materials exhibit ordered mesoporous structures with a very narrow pore size distribution that are achieved by using surfactants during their synthesis. In aqueous solutions the surfactants form mesophases behaving as directing structure agents and after being removed by calcination or extraction the mesoporous bioactive glasses are obtained. The characteristics of these ma-terials made them suitable to be enriched with various osteogenic agents, namely inorganic ions and bio-peptides as well as mesenchymal cells. In the present review, we summarize the evolution of mesoporous bioactive glasses research for bone repair, with a special highlight on the impact of Prof. Maria Val-let-Regi´s contribution to the field.