Turning wood into bones: Bone derived from rattan wood

Scientists in Italy have developed a way of turning rattan wood into bone which is almost identical to the human tissue. At the Istec laboratory of bioceramics in Faenza near Bologna, a herd of sheep have already been implanted with this sort of bones.

This process starts by cutting the long tubular rattan wood up into manageable pieces.Then it is snipped into even more smaller chunks,and then it is ready for the complex chemical process to begin.The pieces are put in a furnace and heated.In simple terms and words, carbon and calcium are added.After that wood is further heated under intense pressure in another oven-like machine and a phosphate solution is introduced. And after around 10 days, the rattan wood has been transformed into the bone-like material.

The researcher team is lead by Dr Anna Tampieri who says “It’s proving very promising”. She says “This new bone material is strong, so it can take heavy loads that bodies will put on it. And “It is also durable, so, unlike existing bone substitutes, it won’t need replacing”.

Several types of wood were tested before they found that rattan works best. It is because of its structure and porous properties, which enable blood, nerves and other compounds to travel through it.

Dr Tampieri says “it is the closest scientists have ever come to replicating the human bone because,” she says “It eventually fuses with real bone, so in time, you don’t even see the join”.

The new wood bone is being closely studied at the nearby Bologna University hospital  where orthopaedic surgeons Maurillo Marcacci are monitoring the sheep tests.

Surgeon Mr Maurillo Marcacci says “A strong, durable, load-bearing bone is really the holy grail for surgeons like me and for patients” he says.

Experiment on sheep shows that particles from the sheep’s own bones are migrating to the bone made from wood. Within a few months, the real and the artificial bone will be like one continuous bone.But with no signs of rejection or infection in the sheep, there is real hope here that a natural, cheap and effective replacement for bones is now possible.

Mr Marcacci says that existing bone substitutes like metal or ceramic, or bones from dead bodies, all have some drawbacks. He says the current range of alternatives can be weak and do not fuse with the existing bone for people with major trauma accidents or cancer. He says “The new wood bones could be a major step forward.”

The new bone-from-wood programme is being funded by “the European Union”.But its implantation into humans are about five years away. Bones from wood could soon be opening up a new branch of medical science.