Bifunctional tissue ‐engineered composite construct for bone regeneration: The role of copper and fibrin

AbstractBifunctional tissue engineering constructs promoting osteogenesis and angiogenesis are essential for bone regeneration. Metal ion-incorporated scaffolds and fibrin encapsulation attract much attention due to low cost, nontoxicity, and tunable control over ion and growth factor release. Herein, we investigated the effect of Cu.nHA/Cs/Gel scaffold and fibrin encapsulation on osteogenic and angiogenic differentiation of Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJMSCs) in vitro and in vivo. Cu-laden scaffolds were synthesized using salt leaching/freeze drying and were characterized using standard techniques. WJMSCs were isolated from the human umbilical cord and characterized. WJMSCs with or without encapsulating in fibrin were seeded onto scaffolds, followed by differentiating into the osteogenic lineage for 7 and 21  days. Osteogenic and angiogenic differentiation were evaluated using real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blot, and Alizarin red staining. Then, scaffolds were implanted into critical-sized calvarial bone defects in rats and histological assessments were performed using hematoxylin/eosin, Masson's trichrome, and CD31 immunohistochemical staining at 4 and 12 weeks. The scaffolds had good physicochemical and biological characteristics suitable for cell attachment and growth. Cu and fibrin increased the expression of ALP, RUNX2, OCN, COLI, VEGF, and HIF1α in differentiated WJMSCs. I mplanted scaffolds were also biocompatible and were integrated wel...
Source: Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials - Category: Materials Science Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research