Bone tissue engineering via growth factor delivery: from scaffolds to complex matrices

Abstract

In recent years, bone tissue engineering has emerged as a promising solution to the limitations of current gold standard treatment options for bone related-disorders such as bone grafts. Bone tissue engineering provides a scaffold design that mimics the extracellular matrix, providing an architecture that guides the natural bone regeneration process. During this period, a new generation of bone tissue engineering scaffolds has been designed and characterized that explores the incorporation of signaling molecules in order to enhance cell recruitment and ingress into the scaffold, as well as osteogenic differentiation and angiogenesis, each of which is crucial to successful bone regeneration. Here, we outline and critically analyze key characteristics of successful bone tissue engineering scaffolds. We also explore candidate materials used to fabricate these scaffolds. Different growth factors involved in the highly coordinated process of bone repair are discussed, and the key requirements of a growth factor delivery system are described. Finally, we concentrate on an analysis of scaffold-based growth factor delivery strategies found in the recent literature. In particular, the incorporation of two-phase systems consisting of growth factor-loaded nanoparticles embedded into scaffolds shows great promise, both by providing sustained release over a therapeutically relevant timeframe and the potential to sequentially deliver multiple growth factors.

Bone Tissue Engineering via Carbon‐Based Nanomaterials

“…Despite the above‐mentioned challenges, carbon‐based nanomaterials are still highly promising for their applications in BTE considering their unique properties match very well with the trends of BTE development. First, a new trend in BTE seeks to further improve bone regeneration via the local delivery of reagents or biomolecules that are essential for natural bone formation . Thanks to the large surface area and rich surface functionalities the carbon‐based nanomaterials generally possess, they are promising candidates to build such scaffolds for next generation of BTE as demonstrated by recent studies .…”

Synergistic effect of extracellularly supplemented osteopontin and osteocalcin on stem cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation, and angiogenic properties

“…1 Moreover, for 5% to 10% of individuals with a broken bone, the fracture will fail to heal under the usual treatment, causing nonunion bone fractures. 3 Tissue engineering technologies offer advances to regenerate bone including the development of scaffolds that can release growth factors in a controlled manner, such as bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) proteins, 5 having great potential for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. 2 In particular, the scarcity of bone graft donors, as well as the high risk of immunologic rejection and infection limited the clinical use of allografts.…”

Bioengineering strategies for bone and cartilage tissue regeneration using growth factors and stem cells

“…Among these, BMPs are extensively studied and most importantly, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved devices which used BMP-2 and BMP-7 in the bone regeneration. GFs and exogenous cytokines were assumed to be functioning as angiogenic, pro-osteogenic, cytokine, and inflammatory roles for the regeneration of bone (De Witte, Fratila-Apachitei, Zadpoor, & Peppas, 2018). PDGF was the first GF reported and its role and function were primarily linked with every type of injury healing based on (a) the enhancement of the number of MSCs in the environment, (b) its action as an osteoprogenitor cell and chemoattractant recruiter, and (c) the increase of the cell propagation at high levels (Casati et al, 2014).…”