Oral-maxillofacial hard tissue is the support of maxillofacial structure and appearance, and lays the foundation for functions of oral and maxillofacial system. Once the defect occurs, it will not only affect the physiological functions such as chewing and pronunciation, but also have a significant impact on the psychological and social life of patients. However, the self-repairing capability of the oral-maxillofacial hard tissue is pretty limited, in which case, substitute materials are required for tissue repair. A huge gap exists between the physical, chemical, structural characteristics of conventional substitute materials and those of human hard tissues, resulting in poor repair effect. Based on this, scholars simulated the process of biomineralization in the development of hard tissues, to improve the structure and function of materials through biomimetic mineralization technology and enhance the repair performance of materials. The current understanding of biomineralization theory and the construction of biomimetic repair technology is still in the stage of rapid development. In recent years, a mass of innovative studies are keeping emerging. In this review, the representative advances in the repair of oral-maxillofacial hard tissues of the past five years are reviewed.
Biomimetics ; Humans

Dental enamel biomimetic mineralization is a process to form the enamel-like mineral structures, which possess unique microstructure and exceptional physic-chemical properties, by mimicking the mechanism of natural enamel formation and biomineralization. Varieties of techniques such as molecular mimetic synthesis and molecular self-assembling were used to accomplish the microenvironment and molecular conditions similar to that of natural tooth enamel within human body. Early remineralization and biomineralization is the future of restoration for enamel defect, research on such products have huge potential in clinical applications, with speedy advancement in recent two decades. This review summarizes the major advances in researches on enamel biomimetic mineralization in recent years.
Biomimetics ; Dental Enamel ; Humans ; Minerals

Bone tissue engineering using stem cells with osteogenic potential is a promising avenue of research for bone defect reconstruction. Organic, inorganic, and composite scaffolds have all been engineered to provide biomimetic microenvironments for stem cells. These scaffolds are designed to promote stem cell osteogenesis. Here, we review current technologies for developing biomimetic, osteoinductive scaffolds for stem cell applications. We summarize the reported in vitro and in vivo osteogenic effects of these scaffolds on stem cells.
Biomimetics* ; Bone and Bones ; Osteogenesis* ; Polymers* ; Stem Cells

PURPOSE: The effects of fiber alignment and direction of mechanical strain on the ECM generation of human ACL fibroblast were assessed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The aligned nanofiber was fabricated using electrospinning with a rotating target. The amounts of collagen on aligned and randomly oriented structures were compared. To evaluate the effect of strain direction, 5% uniaxial strain (0.2 Hz) was applied to fibroblasts seeded on parallel aligned, vertically aligned to the strain direction, and randomly oriented nanofiber sheets. The amounts of collagen produced were measured 2 days after halting the strain application. RESULTS: The fibroblasts on the aligned nanofiber were spindle-shaped and oriented in the direction of the fibers. Significantly more collagen (22.5+/-2.7 ug/ngDNA) was synthesized on the aligned nanofiber than the randomly oriented (14.5+/-3.2 ug/ngDNA). And the amounts of collagen produced were increased by 150% and 50% approximately with the longitudinal and perpendicular cyclic strain, respectively. CONCLUSION: The aligned nanofiber scaffold used in this study constitutes a promising base material for tissue-engineered ligament in that it provides a more biomimetic structure, including the preferable mechanical environment.
Biomimetics ; Collagen ; Fibroblasts* ; Humans* ; Ligaments ; Nanofibers*

The history of biomaterials research is seriously surveyed. It is found that an immutable way of thinking for developing biomaterials is rooted deeply in Western medicine and biology. It is necessary to modify or change the current status of thinking. In this paper, the author presents an idea to research and develop biomaterials via a combined way of thinking, i.e., combining together the wisdom and knowledge of Western medicine, Chinese medicine, and other disciplines.
Biocompatible Materials ; pharmacology ; Biomimetics ; methods ; Humans ; Thinking

Polyamide-amine (PAMAM) dendrimer, a new hyperbranched macromolecular polymer, is considered an "artificial protein" by many scholars on account of its excellent chemical and biological characteristics. PAMAM has internal cavities and a large number of reactive terminal groups. These structures allow the polymer to be used as a bionic macromoleculethat could simulate the biomimetic mineralization of the natural organic matrix on the surface of tooth tissue. Specifically, PAMAM can beused as an organic template to regulate mineral nucleation and crystal growth; thus, the polymerisa more ideal dental restoration material than traditional allogenic materials. This article reviews research progress on thePAMAM-induced biomimetic mineralization of hard tooth tissues.
Amines ; Biomimetics ; Dendrimers ; Humans ; Nylons ; Tooth Remineralization

The human oral microbiome harbors one of the most diverse microbial communities in the human body, playing critical roles in oral and systemic health. Recent technological innovations are propelling the characterization and manipulation of oral microbiota. High-throughput sequencing enables comprehensive taxonomic and functional profiling of oral microbiomes. New long-read platforms improve genome assembly from complex samples. Single-cell genomics provides insights into uncultured taxa. Advanced imaging modalities including fluorescence, mass spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy have enabled the visualization of the spatial organization and interactions of oral microbes with increasing resolution. Fluorescence techniques link phylogenetic identity with localization. Mass spectrometry imaging reveals metabolic niches and activities while Raman spectroscopy generates rapid biomolecular fingerprints for classification. Culturomics facilitates the isolation and cultivation of novel fastidious oral taxa using high-throughput approaches. Ongoing integration of these technologies holds the promise of transforming our understanding of oral microbiome assembly, gene expression, metabolites, microenvironments, virulence mechanisms, and microbe-host interfaces in the context of health and disease. However, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding community origins, developmental trajectories, homeostasis versus dysbiosis triggers, functional biomarkers, and strategies to deliberately reshape the oral microbiome for therapeutic benefit. The convergence of sequencing, imaging, cultureomics, synthetic systems, and biomimetic models will provide unprecedented insights into the oral microbiome and offer opportunities to predict, prevent, diagnose, and treat associated oral diseases.
Humans ; Phylogeny ; Biomimetics ; Dysbiosis ; Homeostasis ; Mass Spectrometry

The limited durability of resin-dentin bonds severely compromises the longevity of composite resin restorations. Resin-dentin bond degradation might occur via degradation of water-rich and resin sparse collagen matrices by host-derived matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). This review article provides overview of current knowledge of the role of MMPs in dentin matrix degradation and four experimental strategies for extending the longevity of resin-dentin bonds. They include: (1) the use of broad-spectrum inhibitors of MMPs, (2) the use of cross-linking agents for silencing the activities of MMPs, (3) ethanol wet-bonding with hydrophobic resin, (4) biomimetic remineralization of water-filled collagen matrix. A combination of these strategies will be able to overcome the limitations in resin-dentin adhesion.
Biomimetics ; Chlorhexidine ; Collagen ; Dentin ; Ethanol ; Longevity ; Matrix Metalloproteinases

As an important auxiliary material, adhesive materials have many important applications in various fields including but not limited to industrial packaging, marine engineering, and biomedicine. Naturally occurring adhesives such as mussel foot proteins are usually biocompatible and biodegradable, but their limited sources and poor mechanical properties in physiological conditions have limited their widespread uses in biomedical field. Inspired by the underwater adhesion phenomenon of natural organisms, a series of biomimetic adhesive materials have been developed through chemical or bioengineering approaches. Notably, some of those synthetic adhesives have exhibited great promise for medical applications in terms of their biocompatibility, biodegradability, strong tissue adhesion and many other attractive functional properties. As natural adhesive materials possess distinctive "living" attributes such as environmental responsiveness, self-regeneration and autonomous repairs, the development of various biologically inspired and biomimetic adhesive materials using natural adhesives as blueprints will thus be of keen and continuous interest in the future. The emerging field of synthetic biology will likely provide new opportunities to design living glues that recapitulate the dynamic features of those naturally occurring adhesives.
Adhesives ; Animals ; Biocompatible Materials ; Biomimetic Materials ; chemistry ; Biomimetics ; Bivalvia

The increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been correlated with global warming. Carbonic anhydrases (CA) are the fastest among the known enzymes to improve carbon capture. The capture of carbon dioxide needs high temperature and alkaline condition, which is necessary for CaCO₃ precipitation in the mineralization process. In order to use CAs for biomimetic carbon sequestration, thermo-alkali-stable CAs are, therefore, essential, and polyextremophilic microbes are one of the important sources of these enzymes. The current review focuses on both those isolated by thermophilic organisms from the extreme environments and those obtained by protein engineering techniques, and the industrial application of the immobilized CAs is also briefly addressed. To reduce the greenhouse effect and delay global warming, we think further research efforts should be devoted to broadening the scope of searching for carbonic anhydrase, modifying the technology of protein engineering and developing highly efficient immobilization strategies.
Biomimetics ; Carbon Dioxide ; Carbon Sequestration ; Carbonic Anhydrases ; Protein Engineering