Bone Dressing
Biologically active bone dressing accelerated the healing of fractures
Ksenia Vasilyeva, Vesti
An effective alternative method of rapid healing of bone injuries was demonstrated by bioengineers from Duke University, working under the guidance of Shyni Varghese.
The author of the scientific work, materials scientist and biomedical engineer Varghese has been researching the processes of bone tissue restoration for many years.
In 2014, Varghese and his laboratory staff studied the effect of calcium phosphate on bone regeneration. In the course of their work, scientists discovered that a completely different substance, adenosine, plays a particularly important role in this process.
Later, American experts have repeatedly investigated the role of this molecule, which, by the way, is responsible for the transmission of energy and biochemical signals.
The experiments carried out helped the experts to find out that adenosine molecules are naturally attracted to the injury site and promote bone healing. However, the local concentration of the healing substance decreases very quickly due to the natural metabolic processes of the body.
And then the researchers had the idea to somehow maintain a high level of adenosine directly at the site of the injury and thereby accelerate the healing of the injury.
"Adenosine in small concentrations is ubiquitous in the body and performs a lot of important functions that have nothing to do with bone restoration. In order to avoid undesirable side effects, we were looking for a way to keep enough adenosine only around the damaged tissue," Varghese explains in a university press release.
A new scientific study was devoted to solving this problem. Scientists have developed a kind of bandage made of a special biomaterial. It contains borate molecules capable of capturing adenosine. The material is applied directly to the broken bone.
Here and below are illustrations of Duke University.
It is important that the chemical bonds between borates and adenosine are strong enough that the medicinal substance is released from the material gradually, without accumulating in the body in dangerously high concentrations, the developers emphasize.
At the first stage of their work, American biomedical engineers demonstrated in vitro (that is, in vitro) that porous biomaterials containing borates are able to retain a high concentration of adenosine at the site of bone injury.
Further, to test the applicability of such an approach in a living organism, the researchers applied biologically active material to the fracture sites of limbs in laboratory mice.
Moreover, some of the bandages were previously impregnated with adenosine, and another part was designed to "capture" its own healing molecules produced in response to a fracture.
Already a week after the treatment was started, mice with bandages of both types showed higher rates of injury healing compared to the control group in which such bandages were not used.
After three weeks, all rodents had a distinct healing of the fracture. However, in animals wearing an adenosine bandage, the bone formed faster and in a larger volume, and the injury site was better supplied with blood.
Bone restoration when applying a bandage that captures the animal's own adenosine (top) and pre-impregnated with adenosine (middle row). The results of the control group are shown below.
Thus, the results of the experiment showed that bioactive bandages contribute to the healing of fractures, regardless of whether they retain adenosine naturally produced in the body or are impregnated with it beforehand before applying to the bone.
This fact, by the way, is of crucial importance in the treatment of bone injuries associated with aging and osteoporosis, when the body produces its own adenosine in insufficient quantities.
Currently, researchers are looking for the possibility of creating a permanent adenosine lining for people suffering from osteoporosis and having a tendency to repeat bone fractures.
Such a material for permanent wear will only need to be "charged" with adenosine molecules from time to time, which will prevent damage to the musculoskeletal system, experts explain.
The Varghese group is also working on the creation of fully absorbable bone dressings that will not require additional interventions to remove them.
We should add that there is another problem in traumatology and orthopedics. Wearing permanent implants and plates after reconstructive operations often leads to wear of bone tissue in the area of attachment of auxiliary structures.
Scientists plan to create a special gel that works on the principle of "adenosine traps". Its application during surgery would help prevent local bone damage, bioengineers believe.
The results of a promising experiment by American researchers are published in the specialized publication Advanced Materials (Zeng et al., In Vivo Sequestration of Innate Small Molecules to Promote Bone Healing).
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