-BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS AND BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEINS-

The biomaterials used in tissue engineering represent a major area of the current study. When the absorption of the biomaterial is too slow, bone formation is inhibited by itself Their bioabsorption for bone engineering should, therefore, coincide with the rate of endogenous bone formation. Bone consists of two major components, collagen and hydroxyapatite, and is a repository of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). In the field of tissue regeneration, pepsin-digested collagen (so-called atelocollagen) is used for tissue engineering as one of the most useful scaffolds. Its excellent biocompatibility, due to its biological characteristics such as absorbable properties and low antigenecity, has elevated collagen to become a primary resource in medical applications. On the other hand, hydroxyapatite is classified as a non-absorbable material and is not harmonized with bone formation and remodeling. Therefore, there is a need for absorbable bioceramics that allow for bone formation and which gradually biodegrade, to be absorbed by the body and replaced by new bone. The BMPs, osteoinductive molecules discovered from bone, are thought to contribute to signal the local mesenchymal cells to proliferate and differentiate to osteoblasts. In this paper, the characteristics of collagen and ceramics, and animal and human studies using BMPs for bone engineering are reviewed. (Received August 2, 2004; Accepted September 13, 2004)