Adoption of Composite Bone Scaffold Loaded with Osteoporosis Drugs in the Repair of Bone Defects in an Osteoporotic Animal Model

Abstract

To promote the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into osteogenic lineages, icariin (ICA) was utilized. A composite scaffold material of ICA-bone powder/poly lactic acid (PLA) was constructed using biotechnology, and its therapeutic effects on osteoporotic bone defects were visualized. During the experiment, the physicochemical properties and biocompatibility of the material were analyzed, and a rat model of osteoporotic bone defects was constructed. The prepared material was implanted into the osteoporotic bone defect region, and according to the drug-loading amount (10−5 M, 10−6 M, and 10−7 M), the experimental rats were assigned into three groups (group A, group B and group C) to verify its bone defect repair performance. The results revealed that the porosity and pore size of bone powder/PLA material were (91.75±2.36)% and (213.42±16.37) μm, respectively. The addition of the Chinese herbal medicine caused a decrease in the porosity of the ICA-bone powder/PLA material, but it still exceeded 85%. After 48 h of co-culturing with human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) using various drug loading amounts (10−5 M, 10−6 M, and 10−7 M) of the composite bone scaffold material, no obvious cell death was visualized. After 7 days of co-culturing, ALP staining showed that the cells grown on the prepared material surface secreted a large amount of extracellular matrix. In particular, the composite bone scaffold material with a loading amount of 10−7 M demonstrated strong positive ALP staining. The repair progress of group C rats was faster at 4 weeks and 8 weeks after surgery versus group A and group B (P < 0.05). According to ALP expression analysis, at 4 weeks after surgery, group C rats had higher ALP positive expression versus group A and group B rats (P < 0.05), and at 8 weeks after surgery, group B and group C rats had higher ALP positive expression versus group A rats (P < 0.05). These findings demonstrated that the bone powder/PLA material loaded with ICA has favorable adoption value in the repair of osteoporotic bone defects.