Biological Materials

Governmental regulations of biomaterials intended to be used clinically have become increasingly strict in recent years. Even if biological materials are of natural origin, they are not always biosafe and biocompatible. The major reason for this is a possibility of antigenicity and viral (or prion) infection. If biologicalmaterials are entirely free of this risk, they will find more medical applications because biological responsen to these natural materials has been studied in more detail than that to synthetic ones. As mentioned above,the unique mechanical properties of biological tissues that differ from those of synthetic materials are also one reason for the advantage of biological over synthetic materials.