Pro-angiogenic and osteogenic composite scaffolds of fibrin, alginate and calcium phosphate for bone tissue engineering

Nupur Kohli; Vaibhav Sharma; Alodia Orera; Prasad Sawadkar; Nazanin Owji; Oliver G Frost; Russell J Bailey; Martyn Snow; Jonathan C Knowles; Gordon W Blunn; Elena García-Gareta

doi:10.1177/20417314211005610

Pro-angiogenic and osteogenic composite scaffolds of fibrin, alginate and calcium phosphate for bone tissue engineering

J Tissue Eng. 2021 Apr 6:12:20417314211005610. doi: 10.1177/20417314211005610. eCollection 2021 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Nupur Kohli^{1

2}, Vaibhav Sharma¹, Alodia Orera³, Prasad Sawadkar¹, Nazanin Owji⁴, Oliver G Frost¹, Russell J Bailey⁵, Martyn Snow⁶, Jonathan C Knowles^{4

7

8

9}, Gordon W Blunn¹⁰, Elena García-Gareta^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Regenerative Biomaterials Group, The RAFT Institute & The Griffin Institute, Northwick Park & Saint Mark's Hospital, London, UK.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK.
³ Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁴ Division of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, UCL Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, London, UK.
⁵ The NanoVision Centre, School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
⁶ Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK.
⁷ Department of Nanobiomedical Science & BK21 Plus NBM Global Research Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.
⁸ The Discoveries Centre for Regenerative and Precision Medicine, UCL Campus, London, UK.
⁹ UCL Eastman-Korea Dental Medicine Innovation Centre, Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.
¹⁰ School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK.

Abstract

Due to the limitations of bone autografts, we aimed to develop new composite biomaterials with pro-angiogenic and osteogenic properties to be used as scaffolds in bone tissue engineering applications. We used a porous, cross-linked and slowly biodegradable fibrin/alginate scaffold originally developed in our laboratory for wound healing, throughout which deposits of calcium phosphate (CaP) were evenly incorporated using an established biomimetic method. Material characterisation revealed the porous nature and confirmed the deposition of CaP precursor phases throughout the scaffolds. MC3T3-E1 cells adhered to the scaffolds, proliferated, migrated and differentiated down the osteogenic pathway during the culture period. Chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay results showed that the scaffolds were pro-angiogenic and biocompatible. The work presented here gave useful insights into the potential of these pro-angiogenic and osteogenic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and merits further research in a pre-clinical model prior to its clinical translation.

Keywords: Bone tissue engineering; angiogenic; calcium phosphate; fibrin; osteogenic.