Hydrogel for Bone Tissue Engineering
Severe bone damage resulting from diseases, including extensive trauma, fractures, and bone tumors, lacks the ability to self-heal. Traditional surgical treatments may lead to side effects such as infection, inflammation, and pain. Hydrogel is widely employed in bone tissue engineering (BTE) as a scaffold for growth factor transportation and cell adhesion due to its controllable mechanical properties and biocompatibility.
Introduction to Bone Tissue Engineering
Bone transplantation is the second most common procedure worldwide. Traditional surgical methods for treating fractures and bone defects involve using bone grafts and metal prostheses, which have been effective in clinical settings but also come with significant drawbacks such as infection risk, pain, high expenses, and the need for additional surgeries. This necessitates the adoption of modern strategies like bone tissue engineering (BTE), which consists of scaffolds, cells, and growth factors.
Fig. 1 The bone repair process. (Ding Q, et al., 2023)
Utilization of Hydrogel for Bone Tissue Engineering
A BTE scaffold should be biocompatible, non-cytotoxic, and non-immunogenic, and the carrier material should allow cell adhesion and growth factor delivery. With a porous structure similar to the extracellular matrix (ECM) and good biocompatibility, hydrogels can serve as carriers of cells or growth factors for BTE. Moreover, the soft texture can decrease the inflammatory response of surrounding cells and tissues, making it a good match for many soft biological tissues. Hydrogels are therefore suitable candidates.
Fig. 2 Hydrogel for bone tissue engineering research methods. (Yue S,>et al., 2020)
- Compatibility of Hydrogel with Organisms and Osteogenic Factors
The integration of hydrogel in bone tissue engineering offers cells a three-dimensional microenvironment that supports their survival, facilitates the uptake of vital nutrients, and regulates cellular structure and function within the engineered tissue construct. Additionally, hydrogel effectively promotes protein absorption and cell attachment. Consequently, this composite hydrogel material is implanted at the site of bone defects where it gradually degrades over time while resident osteocytes continue to proliferate to ensure successful repair.
- Osteoconductive Activity of Hydrogel
The ability of biomaterials to promote the formation of new bone on their surface, known as osteoconductive activity, is crucial for successful bone regeneration. This process supports the movement, growth, and differentiation of bone precursor cells, as well as vascular development and the deposition and calcification of bone matrix. Hydrogels that possess high porosity and a large surface area exhibit rapid and safe osteoconductive properties.
- Osteoinductive Activity of Hydrogel
Osteoinductive substances naturally absorb growth factors like bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), stimulating the migration of mesenchymal cells and promoting bone tissue formation. Mesenchymal stem cells tend to aggregate on hydroxyapatite surfaces, commonly used in preparing osteoinductive hydrogels. In situations where self-healing capacity is insufficient, additional growth factors and cells can be delivered through the hydrogel to enhance proliferation, differentiation, and bone synthesis of mesenchymal stem cells.
Fig. 3 Bone tissue damage repair. (Yue S, et al., 2020)
The Hydrogel Development Services We Provide
With professional equipment and experienced specialists, Matexcel provides high-quality chemically cross-linked hydrogel development services, thermally responsive hydrogel development services, polysaccharide-based hydrogel development services and pH-responsive hydrogel development services. Please contact us for more information.
References
- Ding Q.; et al. Hydrogel Tissue Bioengineered Scaffolds in Bone Repair: A Review. Molecules. 2023;28(20):7039.
- Yue S.; et al. Hydrogel as a Biomaterial for Bone Tissue Engineering: A Review. Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020;10(8):1511.