CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Materials used for bone tissue regeneration have wide ranges of composition, spanning from bioactive glass materials to biodegradable polymers, as well as their composites. This is because for bone tissue regeneration it is essential that the material presents bioactivity which depends on its composition and nano- and micro-structure. In this field, specific calcium phosphates, such as hydroxyapatite (HA)-based materials, are the protagonists, but the difficulties associated with the fragile nature of the calcium phosphate materials have promoted the development of composite materials of calcium phosphates dispersed in a polymer matrix with adequate microstructures and sufficient mechanical strength. Among the different polymer-composite combinations available, the most interesting and successful for the preparation of porous substrates useful in bone regeneration employs a polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix and hydroxyapatite (HA) filler. Depending on the size of the HA particles, the final product is either nano or microstructured.On other hand, infections associated with medical implants are becoming increasingly common and result in significant morbidity and, in some case, mortality. A promising approach is the addition of metal nanoparticles as alternative to antibiotics because of the increasing bacteria population exhibiting resistance to these drugs consequently reducing their applicability. Silver nanoparticles have been show effective to combat bacteria, viruses and eukaryotic micro-organisms. Besides, silver nanoparticles are also reported to possess anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic activity, wich makes these nanoparticles suited for medical purposes. In the present work, we describe the integration of silver nanoparticles in the biomaterial to provide non-antibiotic antibacterial activity.