Bioactive factors and biosynthetic materials in bone grafting.

The ability to initiate bone repair with bioactive factors and delivery systems is contingent upon understanding and mimicking biochemical and cellular events that occur in response to autograft and allograft repair. This review develops the concept that osseous repair must be linked to a time-dependent sequence of structured events, the chronobiologic continuum of wound repair. Selected factors that have shown promise for promoting bone formation are discussed. The deployment of select factors by a biodegradable delivery system that fulfills physiologic requirements for osseous repair is explored.