Electrospinning of in situ synthesized silica-based and calcium phosphate bioceramics for applications in bone tissue engineering: A review

The field of bone tissue engineering (BTE) focuses on the repair of bone defects that are too large to be restored by the natural healing process. To that purpose, synthetic materials mimicking the natural bone extracellular matrix (ECM) are widely studied and many combinations of compositions and architectures are possible. In particular, the electrospinning process can reproduce the fibrillar structure of bone ECM by stretching a viscoelastic solution under an electrical field. With this method, nano/micrometer-sized fibres can be produced, with an adjustable chemical composition. Therefore, by shaping bioactive ceramics such as silica, bioactive glasses and calcium phosphates through electrospinning, promising properties for their use in BTE can be obtained. This review focuses on the in situ synthesis and simultaneous electrospinning of bioceramic-based fibres while the reasons for using each material are correlated with its bioactivity. Theoretical and practical considerations for the synthesis and electrospinning of these materials are developed. Finally, investigations into the in vitro and in vivo bioactivity of different systems using such inorganic fibres are exposed. [Display omitted]