Preparation and Characterization of Biomimetic Composite Nanofibrous Membranes for Bone Tissue Engineering (II)

The regeneration of bone for the repair of fracture or bone defect is a common problem for orthopedic and craniomaxillofacial surgeons and the regeneration potential is limited in the case of large defect after tumor resection, or major facial trauma. In addition to autograph, allograph, and xenograph bone transplants, which have many disadvantages, the bone tissue engineering approach combining stem cells, scaffolds, and growth factors is of growing interests for repair bone defects. This bone tissue engineering research tries to use suitable biomaterials and processing methods to fabricate scaffolds beneficial for cells attachment, proliferation, and differentiation. Growth factors promoting growth of bone tissue will also be added to the scaffold. We will prepare electrospun nanofibrous membranes with high porosity and specific surface area by blending chitosan and silk fibroin. Chitosan is known for its osteoconductive properties while silk fibroin can promote cell adhesion and growth. In addition, osteoconductive and osteointegrative nanohydroxyapatite will be introduced to the nanofibers during or after the electrospinning process to fabricate biomimetic composite nanofibrous membranes. Lastly, osteoinductive bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) will be entrapped in or covalently immobilized to nanofibers to induce differentiation of bone marrow stem cells into osteoblasts and to facilitate formation of bone tissues intended for repairing bone defects. Nanofibrous membranes with different compositions will be fabricated and characterized in detail, followed by seeding with rabbit and human bone marrow stem cells for in vitro biocompatibility studies such as cell growth and differentiation. In vivo bone formation studies will also be carried out in a nude mice subcutaneous implant model (with human stem cells) and a rabbit skull defect model (with rabbit stem cells).

Project ID:PB10107-1733
External Project ID:NSC101-2221-E182-029