Biomimetic techniques are used to produce biomimetic coatings that were made on medical devices with layers of calcium phosphate. This procedure was done under more physiological or “biomimetic” conditions of temperature and pH primarily to improve their biocompatibility and biodegradability. The mineral layers generated by biomimetic methods are comparable to biological mineral, which can be used for tissue engineering and can be degraded within a biological milieu.

The biomimetic coating technique involves the nucleation and growth of bone-like crystals upon a pretreated substrate by immersing this in a supersaturated solution of calcium phosphate under physiological conditions of temperature (37°C) and pH (7.4). The method, originally developed by Kokubo in 1990 has since undergone improvement and refinement by several groups of investigators.

Biomimetic coatings are valuable in that they can serve as a vehicle for the slow and sustained release of osteogenic agents at the site of implantation. This attribute is rendered possible by the near-physiological conditions under which these coatings are prepared, which permits an incorporation of bioactive agents into the inorganic crystal latticework rather than merely their superficial adsorption onto preformed layers. In addition, the biomimetic coating technique can be applied to implants of an organic as well as of an inorganic nature and to those with irregular surface geometries, which is a not possible using conventional methodologies.