Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) is considered as one of the most effective and extensively used growth factor to induce osteoblast differentiation and accelerate bone regeneration. Dexamethasone (Dex) with suitable dosage can enhance the BMP-2-induced osteoblast differentiation. To strengthen this 10 synergistic osteoinductive effect, a pH-responsive chitosan-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (chi-MSNs) ensemble was fabricated for dual-delivery of BMP-2 and Dex. The MSNs are prepared by a CTAB-templated sol-gel method, and further coated by chitosan via the crosslinking of glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS). The small Dex is encapsulated in the mesopores and the large BMP-2 is incorporated into the chitosan coating. These chi-MSNs can quickly release BMP-2 in a 15 bioactive form and then can be efficiently endocytosed and further realize a controlled release of Dex with the decreased pH value into/in cells. With the synergistic action of BMP-2 and Dex outside and inside the cell, this dual hybrid delivery system can significantly stimulate osteoblast differentiation and bone regeneration in vitro and in vivo. Together, this dual-delivery strategy for osteogenic protein delivery may enhance clinical outcomes by retaining the bioactivity and optimizing the release mode of 20 the drug/protein. 65 platform to potentiate the synergistic effect of BMP-2 and Dex.Currently, co-load and co-delivery two or more agents, such as genes, proteins or therapeutic drugs, with complementary or synergistic effect are attracting tremendously interests in nanomedicine to achieve combined therapy. 15 The key for such 70

The designed DAMSN could simultaneously load IBU and BSA, and realize sequential drug release efficiently.

A novel pH-responsive mesocellular foam-based nanocarrier was fabricated by the covalent assembly of a water-soluble N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan via the crosslinking of GPTMS for controlled release of proteins and maintaining their bioactivity.

Delivery of proteins and peptides with excellent bioactivity and controlled release still is a great challenge nowadays. In this study, a pH-responsive delivery system obtained by anchoring 8-nm Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) onto SBA-15 supports with a particle diameter in the range of 0.6-1 μm and a pore size of 6.2 nm was synthesized and investigated. The pH-stimulative response is based on the interaction between the tris(aminomethyl)ethane (TAE) groups anchored onto the pore outlet of mesoporous silica scaffolds and the carboxybenzaldehyde (CBA) groups coated on the Fe3O4 NPs, which can lead to a rapid release under the acid condition (pH = 5) and a zero release with the increase of pH value (pH = 7.4). With BMP-2 as a model protein, this Fe3O4 nanopartilces-capped mesoporous silica showed a rapid response to the change of pH for protein delivery. Furthermore, the released BMP-2 could still maintain its bioactivity and induce the osteoblast differentiation of BMSCs. Besides, the magnetic orientation mainly attributes to the Fe3O4 NPs served as the nanocaps. The excellent bio-compatibility is demonstrated by the MTT assay on BMSCs model cells. These results show that Fe3O4 NPs-capped SBA-15 materials have an effective load for large molecule size proteins, such as BMP-2, and show an excellent applied prospect in pH-responsive controlled release system.

Localized, continuous and effective osteogenic stimulation to defected sites is still a great challenge for recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) in clinical bone regeneration. In this study, a novel delivery system was engineered to tether rhBMP-2 onto the surface of calcium phosphate cement (CPC) based on the high affinity between alendronate and CPC, as well as the strong binding of heparin and rhBMP-2. Alendronate was first grated to heparin via the EDC/NHS reaction and then the resultant alendronate-heparin (AH) was adsorbed onto the CPC surface. RhBMP-2 was further anchored onto the CPC-AH surface. The results from in vitro release and in vivo fluorescence-labeled traces all indicated that the AH-tethered rhBMP-2 exhibited a more stable and stronger adherence to the CPC surface than the CPC-adsorbed and heparin-anchored ones. Moreover, based on the results of the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in skeletal myoblasts (C2C12) in vitro and osteogenic efficacy in vivo, it could be seen that rhBMP-2-induced osteogenic bioactivity was also significantly enhanced on the CPC-AH surface. These results demonstrated that the tethering of rhBMP-2 onto calcium phosphate surface via AH presented an effective method to achieve a localized and sustained exposure to targeted cells, and consequently to promote bone regeneration.