Without transplantation
The development of scientists will allow to refuse bone transplantation
Scientists of the National Research Technological University "MISIS" have developed a nanomaterial that will restore the internal structure of bones damaged due to osteoporosis and osteomyelitis. A special bioactive coating of the material helped to increase the rate of division of its own bone cells by 3 times. In the future, its use will make it possible to refuse transplantation – patients will no longer need to wait for suitable donor tissues. Article by Manakhov et al. Bioactive TiCaPCON-coated PCL nanofibers as a promising material for bone tissue engineering Author links open overlay panel is published in the journal Applied Surface Science.
Diseases such as osteoporosis and osteomyelitis cause irreversible degenerative changes in the bone structure that require serious complex treatment, in severe stages – surgical intervention and transplantation. The donor material must have a number of compatibility indicators, and even a close relationship with the donor is not a guarantee that the material will fit.
A team of scientists from the National Research Technological University "MISIS", led by Anton Manakhov, a researcher at the Inorganic Nanomaterials Laboratory, has developed a material that will allow restoring the destroyed "insides" of bone without bone transplantation.
The material is based on polycaprolactone nanofibers, a biocompatible self–absorbable material. Earlier, the same team of NUST MISIS scientists had already worked with him – by attaching an antibiotic to nanofibers, they managed to produce wound-healing bandages that did not require a change.
"In order for the implanted material to take root well, it requires not only biocompatibility, but also activation of the growth of the body's own cells on the surface of the material. Polycaprolactone polymer is a hydrophobic material, therefore, when cells interact with untreated nanofibers, the cells feel uncomfortable – they gather like water droplets on a smooth surface, slowly divide," says Elizaveta Permyakova, one of the authors of the study, a researcher at the Inorganic Nanomaterials laboratory of NUST MISIS.
To increase the hydrophilicity of the material, a thin layer of bioactive film consisting of titanium, calcium, phosphorus, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen (TiCaPCON) was deposited on it. At the same time, the structure of nanofibers identical to the cellular structure of bone was preserved. These films, when immersed in a salt medium, chemically identical to human blood plasma, are able to form a layer of calcium and phosphorus on their surface, which in natural conditions makes up the bulk of the bone. Due to the chemical "kinship" and the structure of nanofibers, new bone tissue begins to grow rapidly on this layer. The most important thing is that polycaprolactone nanofibers dissolve independently after some time, having fulfilled their functions. Only the new "native" tissue remains in the bone.
In the experimental part of the study, scientists compared the rate of division of osteoblastic bone cells on the surface of modified and unmodified material. It turned out that the modified TiCaPCON material has a high hydrophilicity – unlike the unmodified one, the cells on its surface felt clearly freer and divided three times faster.
The figure from the article below shows the growth of bone tissue on a matrix of pure polycaprolactone, at the top – on a matrix covered with a bioactive film.
According to scientists, such results open up great prospects for further work with modified polycaprolactone nanofibers as an alternative to bone grafting material.
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