Volume 141, Issue 14 e55175
RESEARCH ARTICLE

A novel icariin-encapsulated PLGA/nBM composite biomimetic microspheres for bone repair

Zhenxu Wu

Zhenxu Wu

Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Foshan Hospital of TCM, Foshan, China

Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), ​Investigation (lead), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)

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Guoqing Niu

Guoqing Niu

Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Foshan Hospital of TCM, Foshan, China

Contribution: ​Investigation (supporting)

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Zongtai Xiong

Zongtai Xiong

Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Foshan Hospital of TCM, Foshan, China

Contribution: ​Investigation (supporting)

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Xinxiang Ding

Xinxiang Ding

Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Foshan Hospital of TCM, Foshan, China

Contribution: ​Investigation (supporting)

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Yongbo Li

Yongbo Li

Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China

Department of Orthopedics, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China

Contribution: Resources (supporting)

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Peibiao Zhang

Corresponding Author

Peibiao Zhang

Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China

Correspondence

Feng Wu, Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Foshan Hospital of TCM, Foshan, China.

Email: [email protected]

Peibiao Zhang, Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China.

Email: [email protected]

Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Funding acquisition (lead), Project administration (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)

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Feng Wu

Corresponding Author

Feng Wu

Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Foshan Hospital of TCM, Foshan, China

Correspondence

Feng Wu, Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Foshan Hospital of TCM, Foshan, China.

Email: [email protected]

Peibiao Zhang, Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China.

Email: [email protected]

Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Funding acquisition (lead), Project administration (lead), Resources (lead)

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First published: 20 January 2024

Abstract

Deer bone in traditional Chinese medicine is valued for its unique biomimetic bone matrix components. Icariin (Ica), which is claimed by Chinese medicine as a bone-repairing agent, is also widely accepted. In this report, a novel Ica-encapsulated PLGA/nano deer bone meal (Ica@PLGA/nBM) biomimetic microsphere was fabricated. The Ica could be released from microspheres in a controlled manner. In vitro results showed that the microsphere had good biocompatibility due to the addition of nBM and the MC3T3-E1 cells could adhere to and grow well on the microspheres. Moreover, Ica and nBM in microspheres could synergically promote the ALP activity of MC3T3-E1 cells significantly (p < 0.05), which indicated the acceleration of osteogenic differentiation. The RT-PCR results showed that the expression levels of bone matrix proteins (Col1 & OPN) were enhanced by the composite (p < 0.05). In addition, Ica and nBM in microspheres also obviously promoted the expression of RUNX2 and BMP-2, respectively (p < 0.05). The in vivo results demonstrated the effective promotion of Ica@PLGA/nBM on complete bony connection to cover the defect site and the bone defect repair. And the Ica(M)@PLGA/nBM microspheres provided the best repair results. All the results confirmed that the Ica@PLGA/nBM composite biomimetic microsphere has the potential for clinical application.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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