CICS-UBI - Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, Av. Infante D. Henrique, 6200-506 Covilhã, Portugal.
Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2013 Oct;33(7):4460-9. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2013.07.003. Epub 2013 Jul 13.
The regeneration of large bone defects remains a challenging scenario from a therapeutic point of view. In fact, the currently available bone substitutes are often limited by poor tissue integration and severe host inflammatory responses, which eventually lead to surgical removal. In an attempt to address these issues, herein we evaluated the importance of alginate incorporation in the production of improved and tunable β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and hydroxyapatite (HA) three-dimensional (3D) porous scaffolds to be used as temporary templates for bone regeneration. Different bioceramic combinations were tested in order to investigate optimal scaffold architectures. Additionally, 3D β-TCP/HA vacuum-coated with alginate, presented improved compressive strength, fracture toughness and Young's modulus, to values similar to those of native bone. The hybrid 3D polymeric-bioceramic scaffolds also supported osteoblast adhesion, maturation and proliferation, as demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that a 3D scaffold produced with this combination of biomaterials is described. Altogether, our results emphasize that this hybrid scaffold presents promising characteristics for its future application in bone regeneration.
从治疗的角度来看，大骨缺损的再生仍然是一个具有挑战性的情况。事实上，目前可用的骨替代物往往受到组织整合不良和严重的宿主炎症反应的限制，最终导致手术切除。为了解决这些问题，我们在此评估了海藻酸盐掺入生产改良和可调β-磷酸三钙（β-TCP）和羟基磷灰石（HA）三维（3D）多孔支架的重要性，这些支架可作为骨再生的临时模板。为了研究最佳的支架结构，测试了不同的生物陶瓷组合。此外，经过海藻酸盐真空涂覆的 3Dβ-TCP/HA 具有更高的抗压强度、断裂韧性和杨氏模量，其值与天然骨相似。荧光显微镜也证明了混合 3D 聚合物-生物陶瓷支架支持成骨细胞的黏附、成熟和增殖。据我们所知，这是首次描述使用这种生物材料组合生产的 3D 支架。总的来说，我们的结果强调了这种混合支架在骨再生中的未来应用具有很大的潜力。
