Highly bioactive nano-hydroxyapatite/partially stabilized zirconia ceramics

Nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite (HA) powders have been synthesized by precipitation using Ca(NO3)2 4H2O and? (NH4)2 HPO4 at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Nanocomposites of HA and partially stabilized zirconia (HA/PSZ) were sintered at atmospheric pressure and 1300 for 2h in air. The preparation techniques, structure and me- chanical properties of these materials were characterized. The addition of nanosized PSZ reinforcing phase to HA may lead to an improvement of the macro and micro mechanical properties and not affect its biocompatibility and bioactivity. The bending strength, fracture toughness and nano-hardness were near to or greater than those for human cortical bone and human tooth (dentine and enamel). The composite was incubated in a fresh human plasma which confirmed the bioactivity of nanosized HA/PSZ materials. The bonding reaction between HA/PSZ ceramic and the plasma proteins was found, and he- matopoietic cell phosphatase (HCP) layers formed on surface of each composite incubated in human plasma for two weeks. The diameter of a single HCP globule was less than 100 nm. Furthermore, the precipitating mechanism investigation was carried out through a comparative experiment in this paper.

The Effect of Bioceramic Composite Extracellular Matrixes Used to Repair Bone Deficiency on Relevant Blood Biochemical Indices

At the base of experimental animal model construction of bone defect in New Zealand rabbit, the promoting repair effect of bioactive ceramics on bone defect as well as its machanism was studied through testing body mineral elements, enzymes related to bone morphogenetic proteins and some biochemical indexes. Refering to some documents, materials of TCP, CHA and HA were combined and TCP/BMP/ TCP-β1 and CHA/BMP/ TCP-β1,HA/BMP/ TCP-β1 composite materials were made. All kinds of them were implanted into the radial defect site of rabbit, respectively. The chosen blood indexes (Ca, P, ALP, GGT, AST, ALT, TPA, BUN and Cr) were tested by colorimetry, speed rate and bromocresol green testing methods. No abnormal effects were found in any animal after operation. Serum concentrations of Ca, P and ALP were increased with the length of time in all groups of the three kinds of composite material, mixed material and pure materials. The increases in composite material groups were more significant (P<0.05). Comparison of the three kinds of material showed TCP>CHA>HA. There was a tendency of increased TPA and decreased BUN with the length of time. There was no significant difference between the composite material groups and pure material group (P>0.05). The three kinds of bioactive ceramics composed of extracellular matrix could increase the serum concentrations of Ca and P and activity of ALP after being implanted into defect bone and showed some repairing capacity. This provided a new area of machanism study of bone defect repair by biomaterials.

3D-printed bioactive ceramic scaffolds with biomimetic micro/nano-HAp surfaces mediated cell fate and promoted bone augmentation of the bone-implant interface in vivo

Calcium phosphate bio-ceramics are osteo-conductive,but it remains a challenge to promote the induction of bone augmentation and capillary formation.The surface micro/nano-topography of materials can be recognized by cells and then the cell fate are mediated.Traditional regulation methods of carving surface structures on bio-ceramics employ mineral reagents and organic additives,which might introduce impurity phases and affect the biological results.In a previous study,a facile and novel method was utilized with ultrapure water as the unique reagent for hydrothermal treatment,and a uniform hydroxyapatite(HAp)surface layer was constructed on composite ceramics(β-TCP/CaSiO_(3))in situ.Further combined with 3D printing technology,biomimetic hierarchical structure scaffolds were fabricated with interconnected porous composite ceramic scaffolds as the architecture and micro/nano-rod hybrid HAp as the surface layer.The obtained HAp surface layer favoured cell adhesion,alleviated the cytotoxicity of precursor scaffolds,and upregulated the cellular differentiation of mBMSCs and gene expression of HUVECs in vitro.In vivo studies showed that capillary formation,bone augmentation and new bone matrix formation were upregulated after the HAp surface layer was obtained,and the results confirmed that the fabricated biomimetic hierarchical structure scaffold could be an effective candidate for bone regeneration.

Biomimetic hydroxyapatite coating on the 3D-printed bioactive porous composite ceramic scaffolds promoted osteogenic differentiation via PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathways and facilitated bone regeneration in vivo

The architecture and surface modifications have been regarded as effective methods to enhance the bi-ological response of biomaterials in bone tissue engineering.The porous architecture of the implanta-tion was essential conditions for bone regeneration.Meanwhile,the design of biomimetic hydroxyap-atite(HAp)coating on porous scaffolds was demonstrated to strengthen the bioactivity and stimulate osteogenesis.However,bioactive bio-ceramics such asβ-tricalcium phosphate(β-TCP)and calcium sili-cate(CS)with superior apatite-forming ability were reported to present better osteogenic activity than that of HAp.Hence in this study,3D-printed interconnected porous bioactive ceramicsβ-TCP/CS scaf-fold was fabricated and the biomimetic HAp apatite coating were constructed in situ via hydrothermal reaction,and the effects of HAp apatite layer on the fate of mouse bone mesenchymal stem cells(mBM-SCs)and the potential mechanisms were explored.The results indicated that HAp apatite coating en-hanced cell proliferation,alkaline phosphatase(ALP)activity,and osteogenic gene expression.Further-more,PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway is proved to have an important impact on cellular functions.The present results demonstrated that the key molecules of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K),protein kinase B(AKT)and mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR)were activated after the biomimetic hydrox-yapatite coating were constructed on the 3D-printed ceramic scaffolds.Besides,the activated influence on the protein expression of Runx2 and BMP2 could be suppressed after the treatment of inhibitor HY-10358.In vivo studies showed that the constructed HAp coating promoted bone formation and strengthen the bone quality.These results suggest that biomimetic HAp coating constructed on the 3D-printed bioac-tive composite scaffolds could strengthen the bioactivity and the obtained biomimetic multi-structured scaffolds might be a potential alternative bone graft for bone regeneration.

Bioactive nanoglass regulating the myogenic differentiation and skeletal muscle regeneration

Bioactive glass nanoparticles(BGNs)are widely used in the field of biomedicine,including drug delivery,gene therapy,tumor therapy,bioimaging,molecular markers and tissue engineering.Researchers are interested in using BGNs in bone,heart and skin regeneration.However,there is inadequate information on skeletal muscle tissue engineering,limited information on the biological effects of BGNs on myoblasts,and the role of bioactive glass composite materials on myogenic differentiation is unknown.Herein,we report the effects of BGNs with different compositions(60Si-BGN,80Si-BGN,100Si-BGN)on the myogenic differentiation in C2C12 cells and in vivo skeletal tissue regeneration.The results showed that 80Si-BGN could efficiently promote the myogenic differentiation of C1C12 cells,including the myotube formation and myogenic gene expression.The in vivo experiment in a rat skeletal muscle defect model also confirmed that 80Si-BGN could significantly improve the complete regeneration of skeletal muscle tissue during 4 weeks implantation.This work firstly demonstrated evidence that BGN could be the bioactive material in enhancing skeletal muscle regeneration.