Recently, a new study by Prof. Zhang’s group, which was published online in a journal Biomaterials on Dec 12,2020 reported that biomimetic regenerative material with mineralized micropatterns can accelerate vasularized bone regeneration for skull defect by mimicking periosteal microenvironment (Biomaterials 2021, 268, 120561). In the previous work,the group has found that 3D micropatterns with specific diameters and shapes can facilitate osteogenic differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cells. They further constructed a biomimetic artifical periosteum with mineralized micropatterns using a template-directed biomineralization technique, and evaluated the cytocompatibility in vitro. The bio-inspired membrane can be able to enhance the vascularized bone regeneration in a skull defect model of rat. The authors provided in this study the first in vivo evidence to show that biomimetic micropatterned membranes can be harnessed as an artifical periosteum to repair bone.
Figure: The artificial bionic periosteum with the micro-pattern of calcium phosphate (CaP) nanoparticles can realize the selective distribution and oriented growth of stem cells, thereby realizing the directional differentiation of stem cells, vascularization and osteogenic regeneration in vivo.
Dr. Gaojie Yang and Dr. Haoming Liu from Huazhong University of Science and Technology are the co-first authors of the paper, Prof. Shengmin Zhang is the corresponding author, and Prof. Xingyu Jiang from Southern University of Science and Technology is the co-corresponding author; Yan Li, Yu Liu, Xuan Zhou, Jiaqi Li from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Nuoxin Wang from Southern University of Science and Technology participated in the research.
Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120561
This is the third high-level paper published in Biomaterials by Prof. Zhang’s group in 2020. The previous two papers involved Se-containing hierarchical structural repair materials specifically for the bone regeneration after resection of malignant bone tumors, and repair materials for promoting angiogenesis, respectively (Biomaterials 2020, 247, 119985; Biomaterials 2020, 257, 120253). In addition, in March 2020, the group reported and named a class of original Bioenergetic-active Materials (Science Advances 2020, 6: eaay7608), and found that it can regulate cell energy metabolism through its molecular degradation to promote tissue and organ regeneration, showing the new horizon of biomaterial science and regenerative medicine.
Following a series of research advances that proposed 3D printing to construct a biomimetic gradient structure to achieve precise repair of multiple interface tissues(Biomaterials 2017, 137, 37-48)and personalized 3D printed scaffold to promote vascularized bone regeneration(Advanced Healthcare Materials 2020, 2000727), Professor Shengmin Zhang's team and Prof. Antonios G. Mikos’ Lab recently published a cover article in Chemical Reviews (Chem. Rev. 2020, 120, 10744-10792), which comprehensively summarized the latest developments in scientific research, product standards, market access and regulatory science in bioprinting. This paper has become a milestone work published by worldwide medical device regulatory research platforms.