title: High-resolution three-dimensional probes of biomaterials and their interfaces.
abstract: Interfacial relationships between biomaterials and tissues strongly influence the success of implant materials and their long-term functionality. Owing to the inhomogeneity of biological tissues at an interface, in particular bone tissue, two-dimensional images often lack detail on the interfacial morphological complexity. Furthermore, the increasing use of nanotechnology in the design and production of biomaterials demands characterization techniques on a similar length scale. Electron tomography (ET) can meet these challenges by enabling high-resolution three-dimensional imaging of biomaterial interfaces. In this article, we review the fundamentals of ET and highlight its recent applications in probing the three-dimensional structure of bioceramics and their interfaces, with particular focus on the hydroxyapatite-bone interface, titanium dioxide-bone interface and a mesoporous titania coating for controlled drug release.
authors.affiliation: Applied Materials Science, Department of Engineering Sciences, The Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, 75121 Uppsala, Sweden. kathryn.grandfield@angstrom.uu.se
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grandfield
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palmquist
authors.forename: Håkan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Engqvist
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D055032:Electron Microscope Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods*; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials