Simvastatin is considered as a stimulator for bone formation. However, the half-life for simvastatin is generally 2 hours, which means, it is difficult to maintain biologically active simvastatin in vivo. To overcome this limitation, we created a system to slowly release simvastatin in vitro and in vivo. We constructed a poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite nano-fibrous scaffold to carry simvastatin. Releasing assays showed that simvastatin was released from poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite/simvastatin quickly within - 15 days, and small amounts continued to be released through day 56 (experiments terminated). MTT assays demonstrated that both poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite/simvastatin promoted MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation. However, Alkaline phosphatase assays showed that only poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite/simvastatin scaffold significantly promoted the osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells in vitro on day 14. To further test in vivo, we created calvaria bone defect models and implanted either poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite or poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite/simvastatin. After 4 or 8 weeks post-implantation, the results indicated that poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite/simvastatin scaffold induced bone formation more efficiently than poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite alone. Our data demonstrates that poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/hydroxyapatite/simvastatin has the potential to aid in healing bone defects and promoting bone regeneration in the future although we still need to optimize this complex to efficiently promote bone regeneration.

Abstract:Repair of large bone defects is a major challenge, requiring sustained stimulation to continually promote bone formation locally. Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) plays an important role in bone development. In an attempt to overcome this difficulty of bone repair, we created a delivery system to slowly release human BMP-2 cDNA plasmid locally, efficiently transfecting local target cells and secreting functional human BMP-2 protein. For transfection, we used polyethylenimine (PEI) to create pBMP-2/PEI nanoparticles, and to ensure slow release we used poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to create microsphere encapsulated pBMP-2/ PEI nanoparticles, PLGA@pBMP-2/PEI. We demonstrated that pBMP-2/PEI nanoparticles could slowly release from the PLGA@pBMP-2/PEI microspheres for a long period of time. The 3-15 µm diameter of the PLGA@pBMP-2/PEI further supported this slow release ability of the PLGA@pBMP-2/PEI. In vitro transfection assays demonstrated that pBMP-2/PEI released from PLGA@pBMP-2/PEI could efficiently transfect MC3T3-E1 cells, causing MC3T3-E1 cells to secrete human BMP-2 protein, increase calcium deposition and gene expressions of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), SP7 and I type collagen (COLL I), and finally induce MC3T3-E1 cell differentiation. Importantly, in vivo data from micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and histological staining demonstrated that the human BMP-2 released from PLGA@pBMP-2/PEI had a long-term effect locally and efficiently promoted bone formation in the bone defect area compared to control animals. All our data suggest that our PLGA-nanoparticle delivery system efficiently and functionally delivers the human BMP-2 cDNA and has potential clinical application in the future after further modification.

Regeneration of large bone defects is a common clinical problem. Recently, stem cell sheet has been an emerging strategy in bone tissue engineering. To enhance the osteogenic potential of stem cell sheet, we fabricated bone morphogenetic protein 2 ( BMP-2 ) gene-engineered cell sheet using a complex of polyethylenimine–alginate (PEI–al) nanocomposites plus human BMP-2 complementary(c)DNA plasmid, and studied its osteogenesis in vitro and in vivo. PEI–al nanocomposites carrying BMP-2 gene could efficiently transfect bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. The cell sheet was made by culturing the cells in medium containing vitamin C for 10 days. Assays on the cell culture showed that the genetically engineered cells released the BMP-2 for at least 14 days. The expression of osteogenesis-related gene was increased, which demonstrated that released BMP-2 could effectively induce the cell sheet osteogenic differentiation in vitro. To further test the osteogenic potential of the cell sheet in vivo, enhanced green fluorescent protein or BMP-2-producing cell sheets were treated on the cranial bone defects. The results indicated that the BMP-2-producing cell sheet group was more efficient than other groups in promoting bone formation in the defect area. Our results suggested that PEI–al nanocomposites efficiently deliver the BMP-2 gene to bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and that BMP-2 gene-engineered cell sheet is an effective way for promoting bone regeneration.