Biomedical ceramics, or bioceramics for short, are a class of ceramics specifically designed for medical purposes. They are an important branch of biomaterials and represent the earliest inorganic non-metallic materials used by humans for the diagnosis, treatment, or regeneration and repair of diseased tissues and organs.

 
The Chinese were the first in China to invent ceramics, which were later spread throughout the world via the Silk Road. In the 1960s and 70s, ceramics were specially designed and widely used in medicine, greatly improving the quality of human life, thus giving rise to biomedical ceramics.

 
Given the complexity of the human body, early materials selected for implantation for tissue replacement and repair were chosen based on their non-biochemical reactions and high stability, leading to the first generation of bioceramics, namely bioinert ceramics. With in-depth research into the interaction between implanted materials and the human body, the second generation of bioceramics was developed: bioactive ceramics, which can biochemically bind with tissues. Among them, porous calcium phosphate bioactive ceramics also exhibit osteoinductive properties under certain conditions, meaning they can induce bone tissue regeneration without the addition of external growth factors or living cells. This new discovery has sparked a surge of research into tissue regeneration materials. By controlling various material parameters of biomaterials, especially biomedical ceramics, such as phase structure, chemical composition, mechanical properties, porous structure, and surface micro/nanostructure, it is possible to effectively regulate the biological effects of materials. These effects include regulating the directed differentiation of stem cells and tissue-specific cell behavior, thereby controlling angiogenesis, bone and soft tissue regeneration, and promoting the regeneration and repair of damaged tissues. Based on research into the osteoinductive properties of porous calcium phosphate ceramics, a new generation of tissue-inducing biomaterials has been developed. After implantation into the human body, these materials can stimulate specific responses, mobilizing the body's self-repair and repair functions, ultimately regenerating damaged tissues or organs.

 
Tissue-Inducing Biomaterials

 
Traditional thinking holds that inanimate biomaterials cannot induce tissue formation and organ regeneration. The ability to induce living tissues and organs from inanimate substances represents a fundamental overturning of traditional views on biomaterials. In recent years, based on the discovery and in-depth research of bone tissue regeneration induced by calcium phosphate biomedical ceramics, scholars at home and abroad have proposed using inanimate biomaterials implanted in the body to induce the regeneration or formation of living tissues and organs. This involves optimizing the physicochemical properties of the material without adding any biological factors or living cells, synergistically mediating immune responses, preferentially enriching specific proteins or growth factors, stimulating stem cell proliferation and differentiation into specific tissues, and thereby activating and mobilizing the body's own regeneration and repair functions to directly induce the regeneration of living tissues and organs—the concept of material-induced tissue regeneration. In 2018, at the "2018 Consensus Meeting on the Definition of Biomaterials" hosted by the International Federation of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, based on the leading foundation of biomedical ceramics research, the term "tissue-inducing biomaterial" proposed by Chinese scholars gained widespread recognition and was included in the new "Definition of Biomaterials" catalog. This is the first new definition of biomaterials proposed by Chinese scientists. Tissue-inducing biomaterials are defined as: biomaterials designed to induce the regeneration of damaged or missing tissues or organs without the addition of cells and/or bioactive factors.