[Third-generation biomedical materials and regenerative medicine].
OBJECTIVE
To summarize the developmental process of biomedical materials and regenerative medicine.


METHODS
After reviewing and analyzing the literature concerned, we put forward the developmental direction of biomedical materials and regenerative medicine in the future.


RESULTS
Biomedical materials developed from the first- and second-generations to the third-generation in the 1990s. Regenerative medicine was able to help the injured tissues and organs to be regenerated by the use of the capability of healing themselves. This kind of medicine included the technologies of the stem cells and the cloning, the tissue engineering, the substitute tissues and organs, xenotransplantation and so on.


CONCLUSIONS
The third-generation biomaterials possess the following two properties: degradation and bioactivity; and they can help the body heal itself once implanted. Regenerative medicine is a rapidly advancing field that opens a new and exciting opportunity for completely revolutionary therapeutic modalities and technologies.
Sun
Xue
X
Center of Medical Devices, National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, Beijing 100050, P R China.
Xi
Tingfei
T
D001697:Biomedical and Dental Materials; D044968:Regenerative Medicine; D023822:Tissue Engineering
D001697:Biomedical and Dental Materials