Investigators: Dr Sofie Rebeling Dr Lucy DiSilvio
Stream: PhD
Topic: Biomaterials (HA)
Status: Completed
For patients suffering from trauma or disease of bone tissue, there are various bone substitutes on the market today that are configured to alleviate associated problems and/or to restore the function of the skeleton. The expectations of these bone substitutes are that they should literally act as a substitute of bone tissue by mechanically supporting the defect site. However, their performance is inferior to autografts from a mechanical and biological aspect and so there is a critical need for materials approximating the properties of bone. The aim of Sofie’s thesis was to overcome the above mentioned problem by developing composites comprising hydroxyapatite and alginate. It was hypothesised that the composites would mimic the natural environment of bone tissue such that they would support cell proliferation and differentiation, as well as delivery of therapeutic factors, thereby leading to bone regeneration.
The mechanical, physico-chemical and biological properties of the composites were investigated and the most exciting finding was that the composites could be used to encapsulate bone cells, including stem cells, such that they could potentially be used as injectable cell-seeded bone grafts. This finding was attributed to hydroxyapatite closely resembling the mineral component in bone and alginate providing mechanical integrity as well as a fluid environment allowing for gaseous exchange and delivery of nutrients to the cells. The overall findings in this study strongly suggest that the composites are excellent candidates for treating bone defects and bone diseases and have the potential to be used for regenerating new bone tissue.
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