Italian scientists have developed the first prosthetic bone material made from wood. The researchers changed the building blocks of wood into the material from which bone can be made. 

At first, they heated the wood to extract water content and proteins. This left a carbon skeleton of the architecture of wood. Then the template was made to react with carbon dioxide and oxygen. The reaction produced calcium carbonate.

The outcome is a white material, which is chemically impossible to differentiate from bone, but has the fundamental structure of wood. The study has been published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry. 

According to this study, the material had pores and channels in it, which could be incorporated more easily into the body than replacements with synthetic bone, which is made from materials like titanium.

The pores would allow the cells to pass through the material like it happens in normal bones. The material will be most suitable for filling up the gaps that are left behind after bone tumours are removed or after serious fractures. Anna Tampieri of Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics in Faenza, Italy, said that the material could find applications outside the clinic.