Chitosan Scaffold Containing Periostin Can Accelerate Bone Defect Regeneration in Non-Weight-Bearing Conditions Publisher



Barakzai S¹ ; Salehiamin M¹ ; Shaban MO² ; Azami M³ ; Heidari S¹ ; Sobhani A¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine Published:2023

Abstract

Purpose: For serious bone defects that cannot be managed or repaired by mechanical fixation approaches, autogenous bone grafts are still the gold standard. There are, however, some complications, including inflammation, infection, and pain. As a result, alternative materials are required. Weight-bearing and micro-movement play a key role in fractured bone healing, and mechanical interventions are challenging to implement in situations like compound fractures. Thus, this study examined the role of Periostin (Post) in a Chitosan (CT) scaffold on bone defect regeneration without weight bearing. Methods: Primarily, scaffolds were manufactured with CT and Post and evaluated through MTT and degradability tests. Then, 36 adult male Wistar rats, divided into three equal groups including control (Ctrl), CT, and CT-Post, underwent tibia osteotomy surgery. Once the surgeries were completed, to achieve non-weight-bearing state for the hind limbs, the tail suspension method was utilized. The bone repair was assessed radiologically and thereafter clinically in vivo using bone-specific staining, and ALP activity. Results: Among the groups, the CT-Post group had excellent cell viability and degradability results. The CT-Post group also showed the highest number of osteocyte cells, bone volume, and collagen fiber percentage compared with other groups after 4 weeks. Conclusion: These results provide insights into the value of CT-Post group in terms of biocompatibility and degradability properties compared to the other groups. Furthermore, Post showed a regenerative activity under non-weight-bearing conditions which may play an important role in clinical approaches of bone defect restoration. Lay Summary: Large bone defects cannot be restored by themselves, and also the injured area may not tolerate weight-bearing, despite the fact that weight-bearing is an important factor to foster bone healing. Nowadays, tissue engineering provides better options to improve bone defect regeneration. While a lot of desirable scaffolds are available and it has been shown that periostin increases in the early stage of bone healing and also increases with physical activity, the way a scaffold improves the defect area without weight-bearing has not been investigated so far. Therefore, we synthesized chitosan scaffold containing periostin protein to accelerate bone defect restoration in a non-weight-bearing environment. Because we achieved good results from our study, we want to produce a biodegradable textile scaffold to be used in clinical settings. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Regenerative Engineering Society.