Wood converted to scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Inspired by nature's highly organized hierarchial structures, researchers have used wood to make porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds with structures similar to that of real bone. The scaffolds 'pave the way for realising prosthetic devices which could get closer to the extraordinary performance of human tissues'. They heated the wood to decompose the organic parts that make up most of its weight, leaving behind the carbon template. They reacted the template first with calcium, then oxygen and then carbon dioxide to form calcium carbonate. Finally, they converted it to hydroxyapatite using a phosphate donor. The material keeps its original microstructure, exploiting the unique architectural properties of the wood's cellular make-up. This means cells and blood vessels can grow through the structure and incorporate it into the original bone.
[From wood to bone: multi-step process to convert wood hierarchical structures into biomimetic hydroxyapatite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, J. Mater. Chem., 2009, DOI: 10.1039/b900333a]