Bone Engineering by Biomimetic Injectable Hydrogel

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a multifactorial bone disease characterized by low bone mineral density (BMD) and deterioration of micro-architecture of cancellous bone leading to bone fragility and risk of fractures. In the current work, a novel tissue engineering strategy was experimented to enhance bone architecture in the risk areas via local injection of a biomimetic/osteoinductive injectable hyaluronan based hydrogel loaded with nano-hydroxyapatite crystals (Hya/HA) with/without bone morphogenetic protein (BMP-2), in distal femur of normal and ovariectomized New Zealand white rabbits. Our results revealed the osteoinductive effect of the Hya/HA composite that enhanced bone density and architecture of the rabbit distal femur.