Cheng Gu, Li Zu-Bing
The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology (Hubei-MOST) & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine Ministry of Education, School & Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China (mainland).
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China (mainland).
Med Sci Monit. 2014 Apr 16;20:624-7. doi: 10.12659/MSM.890057.
Bone tissue engineering is bringing hope to patients with jawbone defects, but this technology works well only for small- to moderate-sized jawbone defects. For large segmental jawbone defects, it is difficult to form the functional vascular networks within the graft due to limited diffusion of nutrition and uneven distribution of seed cells. From the standpoint of bionics, seed cells should be continuously transmitted into the graft to replace the necrotic cells during the entire process of bones regeneration. However, the existing one-time inoculation method (OIM) fails to achieve this goal because it is almost impossible to re-open the wound and inoculate cells into grafts that have already been implanted into the body. Inspired by the anatomical structure of jawbones, we hypothesize that the root canal in teeth of jawbones could be used as a channel through which seed cells could be delivered into the graft. Therefore, the multiple-times inoculation method (MIM) could be achieved via the root canal system if defects are located on the maxillofacial bones with teeth. Both osteogenesis and vascularization would be promoted to a large extent because the engineered construct has a limitless supply of seed cells and growth factors.
骨组织工程为颌骨缺损患者带来了希望，但这项技术仅对中小型颌骨缺损效果良好。对于大型节段性颌骨缺损，由于营养物质扩散有限以及种子细胞分布不均，在移植物内难以形成功能性血管网络。从仿生学的角度来看，在骨再生的整个过程中，种子细胞应持续输送到移植物中以替代坏死细胞。然而，现有的一次性接种方法（OIM）无法实现这一目标，因为几乎不可能重新打开伤口并将细胞接种到已经植入体内的移植物中。受颌骨解剖结构的启发，我们推测颌骨牙齿中的根管可作为将种子细胞输送到移植物中的通道。因此，如果缺损位于有牙齿的颌面骨上，通过根管系统可以实现多次接种方法（MIM）。由于工程构建体有无限的种子细胞和生长因子供应，成骨和血管生成将在很大程度上得到促进。
