Development of New Bioactive and Porous Apatitic Scaffolds for the Regeneration of Load-Bearing Bones

The present thesis was focused on the design and development of novel porous bioactive ceramic materials and scaffolds addressed to the regeneration of large and load-bearing bone defects. This research was carried out to meet the increasing demand for bioactive scaffolds enabling bone regeneration, due to the several drawbacks affecting the use of autologous bone, especially for large bone reconstruction. Nowadays, it is well established that effective tissue regeneration requires the implantation of scaffolds exhibiting tissue-mimicking compositional, morphological and mechanical features to promote the formation and maturation of new healthy tissue. In this context, my work was organized in three research topics on the basis of specific clinical requirements, thus leading to the development of different types of bioceramic scaffolds based on calcium phosphates, particularly: i) macroporous implants for cranio-maxillofacial defects obtained by direct foaming of ceramic suspensions, ii) 3D printed macro- and microporous scaffolds based on β-tricalcium phosphate and iii) injectable self-hardening bone cement formulations based on strontium-substituted apatite. A rationale design and optimization of the different processes involved in the development of the new scaffolds allowed to obtain bioceramics exhibiting adequate bioactivity, porosity and promising mechanical performance, as assessed by robust physicochemical, morphological, mechanical and biological characterizations. On the basis of the reported results, a potential clinical application of the developed materials can be envisaged.