Prior to the 1970s, the goal of biomaterials was to replace, not repair, diseased or damaged tissues. But when Larry Hench discovered bioactive glass in 1969, that mindset changed—now, tissue regeneration and repair is the goal.
Bioactive glass is routinely used to regenerate and repair bone and hard tissues, and research on using bioactive glass to heal soft tissues continues to grow as well. Yet there is another application of bioactive glass that is rarely studied—muscle regeneration, specifically skeletal muscle.
Skeletal muscle is one of three major muscle types in the body. Also called voluntary muscle because of a person’s conscious control over its contraction and relaxation, skeletal muscles are attached to bones by tendons, and they produce all the movements of body parts in relation to each other.