bone-regeneration
Bone regeneration research investigates the biological mechanisms and materials that enable the repair and regrowth of mineralized tissue structures. While traditionally associated with animal physiology, insights from this field intersect with plant science through the study of biomineralization, cell wall composition, and the structural polysaccharides—such as cellulose and pectin—that plants produce and which show promise as scaffolding materials for tissue repair. Understanding how plants synthesize and organize these structural polymers informs the development of bio-based materials that can support regenerative processes in both botanical and biomedical contexts.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-05-06
Researchers compared two magnesium-zinc-calcium alloys as biodegradable bone implants for jaw and facial surgery, finding that the lower-zinc formula (1% Zn) degrades slowly and steadily while building a bone-like mineral coating, making it far more suitable for load-bearing implants than the higher-zinc version.
Mg1Zn0.6Ca (1% zinc) reduced its corrosion rate from 1.81 mm/year to just 0.26 mm/year over 8 weeks while reaching 65.5% hydroxyapatite crystallinity — mimicking mature bone mineral.
Mg6Zn0.6Ca (6% zinc) maintained a persistently high degradation rate (~2 mm/year), suffered premature embrittlement (flexural strength dropped to ~51 MPa vs ~89 MPa for the 1% zinc alloy), and showed declining mineral maturity.
The calcium-to-phosphorus ratio in the 1% zinc alloy rose from 0.29 to 0.68 over 8 weeks, indicating progressive bone-like mineralization, whereas the 6% zinc alloy's ratio fell from 1.42 to 0.35.