Wang Zeyu, Yang Sherwin, He Chunjie, Li Chaoqiang, Louh Rong-Fuh
Frontier Institute of Science and Technology (FIST), Micro- and Nano-Technology Research Center of State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
Master's Program of Biomedical Informatics and Biomedical Engineering, Feng Chia University, Taichung 407, Taiwan.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2024 Feb 1;14(3):302. doi: 10.3390/nano14030302.
Effective filling materials, typically bone cements, are essential for providing mechanical support during bone fracture treatment. A current challenge with bone cement lies in achieving continuous drug release and forming porous structures that facilitate cell migration and enhance osteoconductivity. We report a droplet microfluidics-based method for synthesizing uniform-sized gelatin hydrogel beads. A high hydrogel concentration and increased crosslinking levels were found to enhance drug loading as well as release performance. Consequently, the droplet microfluidic device was optimized in its design and fabrication to enable the stable generation of uniform-sized droplets from high-viscosity gelatin solutions. The size of the generated beads can be selectively controlled from 50 to 300 μm, featuring a high antibiotic loading capacity of up to 43% dry weight. They achieve continuous drug release lasting more than 300 h, ensuring sustained microbial inhibition with minimal cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the hydrogel beads are well suited for integration with calcium phosphate cement, maintaining structural integrity to form porous matrices and improve continuous drug release performance. The uniform size distribution of the beads, achieved through droplet microfluidic synthesis, ensures predictable drug release dynamics and a measurable impact on the mechanical properties of bone cements, positioning this technology as a promising enhancement to bone cement materials.
有效的填充材料，通常是骨水泥，对于骨折治疗期间提供机械支撑至关重要。骨水泥目前面临的一个挑战在于实现持续的药物释放并形成有助于细胞迁移和增强骨传导性的多孔结构。我们报告了一种基于微流控液滴法合成尺寸均匀的明胶水凝胶珠的方法。发现高水凝胶浓度和增加的交联水平可提高药物负载量以及释放性能。因此，对微流控液滴装置的设计和制造进行了优化，以能够从高粘度明胶溶液中稳定地产生尺寸均匀的液滴。所产生珠子的尺寸可在50至300μm之间进行选择性控制，具有高达43%干重的高抗生素负载能力。它们可实现持续超过300小时的药物释放，确保以最小的细胞毒性持续抑制微生物。此外，水凝胶珠非常适合与磷酸钙骨水泥结合，保持结构完整性以形成多孔基质并改善持续药物释放性能。通过微流控液滴合成实现的珠子尺寸均匀分布确保了可预测的药物释放动力学以及对骨水泥力学性能的可测量影响，使该技术成为骨水泥材料有前景的增强方法。
