Whey-Derived Porous Carbon Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering
Raúl Llamas-Unzueta,
Marta Suárez,
Adolfo Fernández,
Raquel Díaz,
Miguel A. Montes-Morán,
J. Angel Menéndez
Affiliations
Raúl Llamas-Unzueta
Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono (INCAR-CSIC), c/Francisco Pintado Fe, 26, 33011 Oviedo, Spain
Marta Suárez
Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Center (CINN-CSIC), Universidad de Oviedo (UO), Principado de Asturias, Avda de la Vega 4-6, 33940 El Entrego, Spain
Adolfo Fernández
Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Center (CINN-CSIC), Universidad de Oviedo (UO), Principado de Asturias, Avda de la Vega 4-6, 33940 El Entrego, Spain
Raquel Díaz
Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Center (CINN-CSIC), Universidad de Oviedo (UO), Principado de Asturias, Avda de la Vega 4-6, 33940 El Entrego, Spain
Miguel A. Montes-Morán
Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono (INCAR-CSIC), c/Francisco Pintado Fe, 26, 33011 Oviedo, Spain
J. Angel Menéndez
Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono (INCAR-CSIC), c/Francisco Pintado Fe, 26, 33011 Oviedo, Spain
Porous carbon structures derived from whey powders are described and evaluated as potential scaffolds in bone tissue engineering. These materials have a porosity between 48% and 58%, with a hierarchical pore size distribution ranging from 1 to 400 micrometres. Compressive strength and elastic modulus are outstanding for such a porous material, being up to three times better than those of traditional HA or TCP scaffolds with similar porosities. They also present non-cytotoxic and bioactive behavior, due to their carbon-based composition that also includes some residual mineral salts content.
