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Bone Abstracts (2013) 1 PP75 | DOI: 10.1530/boneabs.1.PP75

1Julius Wolff Institute and Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; 2Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 3Department of Trauma, Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Julius- Maximilians-University, Wuerzburg, Germany; 4Department of Biomaterials, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany.


The transplantation of autologous bone graft represents the ‘gold standard’ treatment for large bone defects, despite the harvesting co-morbidity and limited availability. An alternative scaffold-based approach is presented. Our aim was to investigate to what degree structured scaffolds alone, or in combination with biological stimuli, allow guiding tissue regeneration. Scaffolds consisting of medical-grade polycaprolactone and tricalcium phosphate microparticles, combined with 3.5 mg rhBMP-7, were implanted in critical-sized segmental defects (3 cm) in sheep tibia. The results were compared with a non-loaded scaffold, with autograft and with an untreated defect. Torsional testing to failure, microcomputed tomography (mCT), histology, SEM, nanoindentation and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) were used to assess the regenerated tissue after 3 and 12 months post surgery. After 12 months, biomechanical and mCT analysis showed significantly greater bone formation and superior strength for the scaffolds loaded with rhBMP-7 compared to the autograft. Scaffolds alone induced significantly lower bone formation than the autograft and rhBMP-7 group. Histological analyses unveiled that the scaffold architecture guides the formation of highly organized fibrous tissue across the defect, which influences the microstructure of newly formed bone. SAXS measurements confirmed the alignment of mineral particles in the proximity of the scaffold and lack of alignment in distant regions. Applied clinically, this scaffold-based approach could overcome autograft-associated limitations. Furthermore, the study proves the structural benefit of the presence of a scaffold for soft and mineralized tissue organization. However, the interplay of physical and biological cues is not yet understood. Ongoing analyses compare the morphology, local mechanical properties, mineral particle thickness and orientation of the rhBMP-7 treated and non-treated scaffolds.

Volume 1

European Calcified Tissue Society Congress 2013

Lisbon, Portugal
18 May 2013 - 22 May 2013

European Calcified Tissue Society 

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