Bioengineering

Biomaterial
Science
MPS Department | FEU Institute of Technology
 Bioengineering

History of
Biomaterials
MPS Department | FEU Institute of Technology
 OBJECTIVES

▪ Discuss the development of biomaterials throughout history.

BEFORE CIVILIZATION

Source: smithsonianmag.com Source: smithsonianmag.com

“Kennewick Man” Prehistoric tattoo

Found in Washington, USA 5000 years ago
9000 years old
“a tall, healthy, active person with a
spear point embedded in his hip”
DENTAL IMPLANTS IN EARLY CIVILIZATION

France, 200 AD
Wrought iron dental implant in a
corpse
Properly osseointegrated

Source: allthingsbiomaterials.com

600 A.D. What can be deduced from

Mayan people fashioned nacre
these early procedures?
teeth from seashells
Now referred as osseointegration
SUTURES DATING BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS

Linen sutures by early

Egyptians

Catgut suture in the middle

ages in Europe
Source: ripleys.com

Biting ants clamped wound edges

South Africa and India
SUTURES DATING BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS

Lead wire sutures – 1816, Philip

Physick, University of
Pennsylvania

Silver wire suture – 1849, J. Marion

Sims of Alabama

Source: Britannica.com

Galen of Pergamon (Greek lit.)

Gold wire ligatures, 130-200 AD
CONTACT LENSES
1508 – Leonardo Da Vinci
developed the concept of contact
lenses
1860 – testing of glass contact lens
by Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick

1936 – 1948
Development of plastic contact
lenses

Source: science101.com
THE SURGEON/PHYSICIAN HERO

Materials, originally manufactured for airplanes, automobiles, clocks,

and radios were taken “off-the-shelf” by surgeons and applied to
medical problems.

After the WW II, medical practitioners felt it was appropriate to invent

(improvise) where the life or functionality of their patient was at stake.
INTRAOCULAR LENSES

First implant on November 29, 1949 of intraocular lenses made from

poly(methyl methacrylate) based on his observation of aviators with
accidentally implanted plastic shards in their eyes.

This changed the course of history and evolved into an industry that
presently puts more than 7 000 000 lenses annually.
HIPS AND KNEE PROSTHESES

Source: google.com Source: google.com

Source: ansys.com
Cemented ivory ball Glass hemisphere
First hip replacement in 1925 1960s
1891 Used to fit over the ball Poly(methyl methacrylate)
Not successful of hip joint Successful
Not successful
DENTAL IMPLANTS

Source: academia.edu

Pet Ingvar Branemark, 1952

Studying healing reaction of titanium screw in rabbit
Accidental discovery of osseointegration
BREAST IMPLANT

Source: sciencedirect.com Source: bbc.com

Poly(vinyl alcohol) sponges, 1960, first silicone shell filled

1952 with silicone gel implant
Poor results Thomas Cronin and Frank
Gerow, Univ. of Texas
 Bioengineering
Biomaterial Science – An
Evolving Multidisciplinary
Endeavor
MPS Department | FEU Institute of Technology
 OBJECTIVES

• Discuss the integral concepts of biomaterials and biomaterial science; and

• Identify the applications of biomaterials.
The study (from the physical and/or
biological perspective) of materials
with special reference to their
interaction with the biological A biomaterial is a nonviable
environment – synthesis, material used in a medical
characterization, and the host device, intended to interact
with biological systems.
material interaction biology

We are concerned with foreign-body

reaction.
Appropriate host responses:
- Resistance to blood clotting
- Resistance to bacterial
colonization Biocompatibility is the
ability of a material to
- Normal uncomplicated healing perform with an appropriate
host response in a specific
Specific applications examples: application.
- Hemodialysis membrane
- Urinary catheter
- Hip joint replacement prosthesis
First Generation (1950s-1960s)
- Bioinert materials
- off-the-shelf, widely available
industrial materials
- Elastomeric polymer, silicone
rubber
- Pyrolytic carbon, originally for
coating of nuclear fuel, now
used in heart valves

Source: Rabkin, E. & Shoen, F.J., 2002

Second Generation (1980s)
- Bioactive and resorbable
materials
- Bioactive glasses and ceramics
in drug release applications
- Biodegradable sutures

Source: Rabkin, E. & Shoen, F.J., 2002

Third Generation
- Organ and cell bioprinting
- Replacement of damaged
bladders, trachea, skin, cornea,
cartilage

Source: Rabkin, E. & Shoen, F.J., 2002

The translation of biomaterials science to clinically important medical devices is
dependent on:
1. Sound engineering design
2. Testing in vitro, in animals and in humans
3. Clinical realities
4. Involvement of government and industry.

Source: Ratner, B. et al., 2013

 Source: Ratner, B. et al., 2013

The path from identified need to a clinical product.

Source: Ratner, B. et al., 2013
1. Multidisciplinary
2. Multi-biomaterial
3. Clinical need-driven
4. Substantial world market
5. Risk-benefit issues
Ratner, B.D., Hoffman, A.S., Schoen, F.J, & Lemons, J.E. (2013). Biomaterials Science
An Introduction to Materials in Medicine. Elsevier Inc., USA.

Image sources:
smithsonianmag.com
allthingsbiomaterials.com
ripleys.com
Britannica.com
science101.com
ansys.com
Google.com
academia.edu
sciencedirect.com
bbc.com