In surgery, a biomaterial is a synthetic or natural material used to replace part of a living system or to function in intimate contact with living tissue. Compare this definition to that of bio-based material. A typical modern surgery operation Surgery (from the Greek cheirourgia meaning hand work) is the medical specialty that treats diseases or injuries by operative manual and instrumental treatment. ... Biological tissue is a substance made up of cells that perform a similar function. ... A bio-based material is simply an engineering material made from substances derived from living tissues. ...

In the first Consensus Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials a biomaterial was defined as "a nonviable material used in a medical device, intended to interact with biological systems" but was later in the second round defined as a "material intended to interface with biological systems to evaluate, treat, augment or replace any tissue, organ or function of the body" (see list of 5 below).

A biomaterial is different from a biological material such as bone that is produced by a biological system. Artificial hips, vascular stents, artificial pacemakers, and catheters are all made from different biomaterials and comprise different medical devices. Grays illustration of a human femur, a typically recognized bone. ... artificial light is light that is made by man. ... Bones of the Hip In anatomy, the hip is the bony projection of the femur, known as the greater trochanter, and the overlying muscle and fat. ... This article is about a medical device which electrically stimulates the heart. ... Catheter disassembled In medicine, a catheter is a tube that a health professional may insert into part of the body. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Medical equipment. ...

Biomimetic materials are not made by living things but have compositions and properties similar to those made by living things. The calcium hydroxylapatite coating found on many artificial hips is a sort of fake bone that allows for easier attachment of the implant to the living bone. ... artificial light is light that is made by man. ... Grays illustration of a human femur, a typically recognized bone. ... Implants (from Latin in-, in ; and Latin plantere, to plant) are artificial devices which made to replace and act as a missing biological structure. ... For other uses, see Life (disambiguation) and Living (disambiguation). ... Grays illustration of a human femur, a typically recognized bone. ...

Surface functionalization may provide a way to transform a bio-inert material into a biomimetic or even bio-active material by coupling of protein layers to the surface, or coating the surface with self-assembling peptide scaffolds to lend bioactivity and/or cell attachment 3-D matrix. Different approaches to functionalization of biomaterials exist. Plasma processing has been successfully applied to chemically inert materials like polymers or silicon to graft various functional groups to the surface of the implant. Surface functionalization introduces chemical functional groups to a surface. ... ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... An open surface with X-, Y-, and Z-contours shown. ... Plasma processing is a plasma-based material processing technology that aims at modifying the chemical and physical properties of a surface. ... Polymer is a generic term used to describe a very long molecule consisting of structural units and repeating units connected by covalent chemical bonds. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 3, p Appearance dark gray, bluish tinge Atomic mass 28. ... In ecology functional groups are collections of organisms based on morphological, physiological, behavioral, biochemical, or environmental responses or on trophic criteria. ... An open surface with X-, Y-, and Z-contours shown. ...

Six definitions of the word biomaterial and some comments

• 1. non-viable material used in a medical device, intended to interact with biological systems.

ESB Consensus Conference I

• 2. material intended to interface with biological systems to evaluate, treat, augment or replace any tissue, organ or function of the body

ESB Consensus Conference II - Note - This is refined version of definition 1 so that the reference to non-viable materials was removed and that made the intended functions of biomaterials more explicit. This is the recommended definition.

• 3. synthetic, natural or modified natural material intended to be in contact and interact with the biological system

ISO - This definition from an ISO Technical Report is not recommended since it implies that tissues are biomaterials which they are not and because of the ambiguity of the phrase “in contact”

• 4. any substance (other than a drug), synthetic or natural, that can be used as a system or part of a system that treats, augments, or replaces any tissue, organ, or function of the body.

Dorland Medical - Note - This definition is not recommended since it does not imply any reference to an interface with tissues, furthermore this definition would include any microelectronic component of a pacemaker that is not normally considered to be a biomaterial.

• 5. solid materials which occur in and are made by living organisms, such as chitin, fibrin or bone.

Larousse Science - Note – This definition is not recommended since it aims at materials of biological origin (bio-material) rather than materials to be used in medical devices. See more on bio-based materials.

• 6. a systemically and pharmacologically inert substance designed for implantation within or in corporation with living systems

The Clemson University Advisory Board for Biomaterials - Note - this seems to be a remainder from the time when everyone thought that a biomaterial should be inert to achieve optimal biocompatibility but this is no longer the case.

A bio-based material is simply an engineering material made from substances derived from living tissues. ... This article discusses Clemson University. ... In English, to be inert is to be in a state of doing little or nothing. ... Biocompatibility is the ability of a material to perform with an appropriate host response in a specific application. ...

Useful Links

• Publications on MIT's latest synthetic biocompatible biomaterials from luminaries Shuguang Zhang, Alex Rich, Robert Langer, Alan Grodzinsky
• PuraMatrix synthetic clinical-grade hydrogel biomaterials
• COOK® Medical Biomaterials | SIS Technology

References

• Dorland medical dictionary
• Larousse dictionary of science and technology
• William's dictionary of biomaterials, DF Williams, 1999, ISBN 0-85323-921-5