There has been a lot of attention and importance given to agro industrial waste lately, new innovative materials are being synthesized out of this debris, in many cases with a biomedical use, and so is the case with this new bone substitute made from rice husk.
Specialists from UNAM’s Applied Science and Technological Development Center (Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico), have created a synthesized material from the ashes of rice husk that can replace human bone.
Out of all of the advantages this material features, there’s the fact that it is obtained at a lower temperature than others, and coming from agro industrial waste, medical input costs can be lowered significantly, with a high cost-benefit.
Miriam Marin Miranda, doctorate student from UNAM’s Applied Science and Technological Development Center, explained that a large amount of silicon (almost 95%), can be obtained from the ashes of the rice husk, along with other components like calcium, sodium and phosphorus pentoxide.
“If we use the silicon dioxide from the rice husk to complete what’s missing from the formula, we get a much more economic raw material,” pointed out the doctorate student.
“This creation is a bioglass that can favor the cell’s work, giving them the structure and components necessary for the bone regeneration to happen. If it does work, the substitutes will become permanent because the material gets reabsorbed while the cells reconstruct the bone”.
“A bone substitute like bioglass is one of the most studied to regenerate bone loss from different causes, either because of disease or accidents. It is fascinating to see how science is taking greener routes; at the end it’s something that will benefit us all”, Marin Miranda concluded.