Abstract Many active ingredients from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been applied in bone tissue engineering. However, the fuzzy mechanism of these ingredients limits their application. In this study, a novel biomimetic bone scaffold functionalized with two TCM ingredients, nano deer bone meals (nBM) and neferine (Nef), as well as collagen-binding IGF-1 (CBD-IGF-1) was fabricated via a combination of phase inversion and particle leaching methods. The biomimetic CIGF1&Nef@PLGA/nBM scaffold mimicked cancellous bone in terms of its porous structure and bone matrix composition rich in collagen. Both Nef contained in the scaffold and CBD-IGF-1 bound to collagen matrix could be slowly released from the scaffold, exerting long-term and safe bioactivity. In vitro tests showed that the CIGF1&Nef@PLGA/nBM composite significantly enhanced the adhesion, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells on the material. Nef and IGF-1 in CIGF1&Nef@PLGA/nBM scaffold exerted a synergistic effect on IGF-1-mediated osteogenic differentiation via IGF-1R axis to ensure the osteogenic activity of the biomimetic scaffold. In vivo skull defect repair experiment confirmed that CIGF1&Nef@PLGA/nBM could promote the neocortical bone formation and osseous maturation, further accelerating the bone defect repair. The findings of this research demonstrated that the biomimetic CIGF1&Nef@PLGA/nBM scaffold is a promising implantation in bone defect therapy.
Gao et al. (Mon,) studied this question.