Marine Structures as Templates for Biomaterials

Abstract

During the last two decades, “learning from nature” has given us new directions for the use of natural organic and inorganic skeletons, drug delivery devices, new medical treatment methods initiating unique designs and devices ranging from nano- to macroscale. These materials and designs have been instrumental to introduce the simplest remedies to vital problems in regenerative medicine, providing frameworks and highly accessible sources of osteopromotive analogues, scaffolds and drug delivery device proteins. This is exemplified by the biological effectiveness of marine structures such as corals and shells and sponge skeletons, extracts of spongin and nacre, sea urchin, sea snails and Foraminifera. Organic matrix and inorganic marine skeletons possess a habitat suitable for proliferating added mesenchymal stem cell populations and promoting clinically acceptable bone formation. A wide range of applications of these marine structures and their conversion methods are covered by excellent review papers and chapters. In this chapter based on our research, published work and book chapters, we aim to cover the nature, morphology and the use of some of these structures for tissue engineering, bone grafts, drug delivery and specific extracts such as proteins for regenerative medicine.