Bone Regeneration: Microparticulate and Biomimetic Strategies

Abstract

Structural allograft bone transplantation has evolved over many years and despite improvements in fixation and advances in graft safety, there are significant limitations and potential complications. This has prompted investigations in our laboratory to reduce bone to its smallest common denominator and to combine the inductive potential of small particle allograft bone with somatic stem cells and inorganic matrices as a regenerative engineering strategy for skeletal reconstruction. Preliminary animal studies identified an optimal particle size that since has been corroborated in human trials for closed segment bone defects. Further studies have confirmed the invigorating effects of stem cells cultured with bone particles that too have been observed and confirmed in human transplantation. The addition of structural inorganic materials to particulate bone and cells presents an alternative to large structural allografts. Newer technologies that alter the surface properties of inorganic and organic matrices offer unique biologic and physical pathways to bone induction that may be transformative in the field of bone regeneration and provide superior clinical alternatives to segmental bone loss. Keywords: Allograft, bone regeneration, mimetic material, PEEK, stem cells, transplantation.