Checchi Marta, Bertacchini Jessika, Grisendi Giulia, Smargiassi Alberto, Sola Antonella, Messori Massimo, Palumbo Carla
Department of Biomedical, Metabolic Science and Neuroscience, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Largo del Pozzo 71, 41125 Modena, Italy.
Division of Oncology, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences for Children and Adults, University-Hospital of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Largo del Pozzo 71, 41125 Modena, Italy.
Biomedicines. 2017 Dec 25;6(1):3. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines6010003.
Recovering of significant skeletal defects could be partially abortive due to the perturbations that affect the regenerative process when defects reach a critical size, thus resulting in a non-healed bone. The current standard treatments include allografting, autografting, and other bone implant techniques. However, although they are commonly used in orthopedic surgery, these treatments have some limitations concerning their costs and their side effects such as potential infections or malunions. On this account, the need for suitable constructs to fill the gap in wide fractures is still urgent. As an innovative solution, scleral ossicles (SOs) can be put forward as natural scaffolds for bone repair. SOs are peculiar bony plates forming a ring at the scleral-corneal border of the eyeball of lower vertebrates. In the preliminary phases of the study, these ossicles were structurally and functionally characterized. The morphological characterization was performed by SEM analysis, MicroCT analysis and optical profilometry. Then, UV sterilization was carried out to obtain a clean support, without neither contaminations nor modifications of the bone architecture. Subsequently, the SO biocompatibility was tested in culture with different cell lines, focusing the attention to the differentiation capability of endothelial and osteoblastic cells on the SO surface. The results obtained by the above mentioned analysis strongly suggest that SOs can be used as bio-scaffolds for functionalization processes, useful in regenerative medicine.
当骨缺损达到临界尺寸时,由于影响再生过程的干扰因素,严重骨骼缺损的恢复可能会部分失败,从而导致骨不愈合。目前的标准治疗方法包括同种异体移植、自体移植和其他骨植入技术。然而,尽管这些方法在骨科手术中常用,但在成本和副作用方面存在一些局限性,如潜在感染或骨不连。因此,仍然迫切需要合适的植入物来填补广泛骨折的缺口。作为一种创新解决方案,巩膜小骨(SOs)可作为骨修复的天然支架提出。SOs是在低等脊椎动物眼球的巩膜-角膜边界形成环的特殊骨板。在研究的初步阶段,对这些小骨进行了结构和功能表征。形态学表征通过扫描电子显微镜(SEM)分析、显微计算机断层扫描(MicroCT)分析和光学轮廓测量进行。然后,进行紫外线灭菌以获得清洁的支架,既无污染物也不改变骨结构。随后,在培养中用不同细胞系测试SO的生物相容性,重点关注内皮细胞和成骨细胞在SO表面的分化能力。上述分析获得的结果强烈表明,SOs可作为功能化过程的生物支架,在再生医学中有用。