Reporters Notebook

A little something about my report on Engineering Materials.Putcha eto lang ang report namin nina Dante. This is the characteristics of a biomaterial for it not to cause side effects on the body.

Biocompatibility
The human body has an extraordinary ability to be able to tell whether an object is foreign or not. This is part of the bodies protection against invasion from an outside organism. If a substance is placed in the body and the body can tell it is foreign, then an immune system response will be generated. When an object is incorporated into the body without any immune responses it is said to be BIOCOMPATIBLE. In order for a device to be biocompatible, it must follow a very stringent set of demands from the body.
Physical requirements
The device must be very strong so it does not break inside the body. Depending on the circumstances, it may need to be either very hard or very flexible. Anything placed into the body must be able to take a constant physical beating from one's body. For instance, the valves in a heart open and close about 70 - 80 times a minute. Over the course of years and years this adds up to millions of pumps. If the artificial valve cannot meet these standards and fails, the person will die.
Chemical requirements
Before any foreign biomaterial can be placed in the body it must be first approved for medical use (MEDICAL GRADE). A biomaterial must have certain characteristics to insure the individuals safety.
1. It must not react with any tissue in the body
2. It must be non-toxic to the body
3. Long-term replacements must not be biodegradable
This can be very tricky because most of the commercially made polymeric materials contains small traces of many chemicals such as fillers, antioxidants and unreacted monomers. Although they may normally be harmless, when placed inside the body, they can cause a serious threat.