The role of biomimetism in developing nanostructured inorganic matrices for drug delivery

Chemists, biologists, physics and engineers interested in material science are amazed by the high degree of sophistication, miniaturization, hierarchical organization, reliability, efficiency, resistance and adaptability which characterized natural materials. Mimicking nature, we can design and synthesize inorganic smart materials which are reactive towards biological tissues and can release bioactive molecules by a kinetic that is controlled not only by matrix tailored chemical-physical properties, but also by the response to stimuli induced by physiological or phatological processes. Nanotechnologies which allow a "bottom up" approach can supply valid tools to synthesize innovative biomimetic materials mimicking Nature not only in composition, but also in size, morphology, structure and surface bioactivity. Among synthetic inorganic biomaterials apatite and silica are especially leading to the development of new implantable materials tha can also act as therapeutic agents, releasing biological active molecules in situ with a controlled kinetic.