Chitosan-Graphene Oxide 3D scaffolds as Promising Tools for Bone Regeneration in Critical-Size Mouse Calvarial Defects

Abstract

Limited self-regenerating capacity of human skeleton makes the reconstruction of critical size bone defect a significant challenge for clinical practice. Aimed for regenerating bone tissues, this study was designed to investigate osteogenic differentiation, along with bone repair capacity of 3D chitosan (CHT) scaffolds enriched with graphene oxide (GO) in critical-sized mouse calvarial defect. Histopathological/histomorphometry and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) analysis of the implants revealed larger amount of new bone in the CHT/GO-filled defects compared with CHT alone (p < 0.001). When combined with GO, CHT scaffolds synergistically promoted the increase of alkaline phosphatase activity both in vitro and in vivo experiments. This enhanced osteogenesis was corroborated with increased expression of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and Runx-2 up to week 4 post-implantation, which showed that GO facilitates the differentiation of osteoprogenitor cells. Meanwhile, osteogenesis was promoted by GO at the late stage as well, as indicated by the up-regulation of osteopontin and osteocalcin at week 8 and overexpressed at week 18, for both markers. Our data suggest that CHT/GO biomaterial could represent a promising tool for the reconstruction of large bone defects, without using exogenous living cells or growth factors.

Electrical stimulation-induced osteogenesis of human adipose derived stem cells using a conductive graphene-cellulose scaffold

“…The device may be useful in research for tissue engineering and modelling, as well as prospective therapeutics, including preclinical assays for drug screening and tissue development for regenerative medicine. The latter is supported by evidence for graphene based materials being able to promote in vivo bone repair and reconstruction [43,44], in vivo biocompatibility of cellulose [45], and the recognised benefits of ES for bone healing.…”

Modification of Chitosan for the Generation of Functional Derivatives

“…Regarding the previous section, CS is a unique cationic biocompatible and biodegradable (see Section 5) polysaccharide that can be modified, as required, according to the needed end-use application. This is particularly true for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications ranging from drug delivery systems [164] to functional biomaterials [165], also considering tissue engineering [166], cell culturing [167], regenerative scaffolds [168], wound healing [169], smart hydrogels [170], active nanoparticles [171], anticoagulants [172], gene therapy [173], etc. (Figure 9).…”

Polysaccharide-Based Systems for Targeted Stem Cell Differentiation and Bone Regeneration

“…Here, the early marker Runx2 was increased in the first 4 weeks and decreased afterwards. OPN and OCN levels, both late markers, gradually increased over the course of the 18 week study [153].…”