Development of Organic/Inorganic Compatible and Sustainably Bioactive Composites for Effective Bone Regeneration

Biomacromolecules. 2018 Sep 10;19(9):3637-3648. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.8b00707. Epub 2018 Aug 10.

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate a strategy of covalently bonding bioactive molecules onto inorganic hydroxyapatite (HAp) to improve the compatibility between organic and inorganic components and endow the bone composites with sustainable bioactivity. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) peptide covalently immobilized nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp-BMP-2) is developed to preserve the bioactivity and slow the release of the BMP-2 peptide. Then nHAp-BMP-2 was further incorporated into an ultraviolet-curable mixture of gelatin methacrylamide (GelMA) and four-armed PEG methacrylamide (four-armed PEGMA) to form a Gel/(nHAp-BMP-2) composite. The hydrogen bonding between gelatin and BMP-2 on nHAp-BMP-2 enhanced the compatibility between inorganic and organic components. The Gel/(nHAp-BMP-2) composite exhibited superior biocompatibility caused by gelatin and nHAp-BMP-2, except in a two-dimensional cell culture, the hydrogel was also capable of a three-dimensional cell culture. In addition, the introduction of nHAp-BMP-2 had a positive influence on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell proliferation, differentiation, and the subsequent calcification on the composite. After treatment of a rat calvarial defect model for 12 weeks, the Gel/(nHAp-BMP-2) group showed the largest new bone volume and the highest ratio of new bone (50.54 ± 13.51 mm3 and 64.38 ± 17.22%, respectively) compared to those of the other groups. These results demonstrate that this way of controlling BMP-2 release is effective and the Gel/(nHAp-BMP-2) composite has great potential in bone regeneration therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acrylamides / chemistry
  • Animals
  • Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 / chemistry
  • Bone Regeneration*
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Durapatite / chemistry
  • Gelatin / chemistry
  • Hydrogels / adverse effects
  • Hydrogels / chemistry*
  • Male
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / drug effects
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / physiology
  • Nanocomposites / adverse effects
  • Nanocomposites / chemistry*
  • Polyethylene Glycols / chemistry
  • Rabbits
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Tissue Scaffolds / adverse effects
  • Tissue Scaffolds / chemistry*

Substances

  • Acrylamides
  • Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2
  • Hydrogels
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • Gelatin
  • Durapatite
  • methacrylamide