Modified keratin sponge: Binding of bone morphogenetic protein-2 and osteoblast differentiation

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A keratin sponge was chemically modified to obtain carboxyl and amino sponges by the alkylation of a large amount of active SH group on keratin proteins with iodoacetic acid and 2-bromoethylamine, respectively. The carboxyl sponge having a large amount of carboxyl group was a scaffold that could bind significant amounts of basic bioactive proteins, such as lysozyme and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2, and drugs. Lysozyme (maximum 3.7 mg), a model of basic cytokines such as BMP-2, was absorbed by the carboxyl sponge (4.8 mg), but not by the amino sponge. The lysozyme was rapidly released from the carboxyl sponge in a buffer containing at a concentration higher than 0.5 M, but at 0.15 M, near the physiological ionic strength, after initial burst (only 11%), no significant release was observed (15%, 48 h). BMP-2 also bound the carboxyl sponge. The preosteoblast cells grown inside the BMP-2-loaded sponge differentiated, whereas those grown outside the sponge did not, suggesting that no significant amount of BMP-2 leaked into the surrounding media. The effects of BMP-2 were confined inside modified keratin sponge. Therefore, using in vivo, we expect that only internal osteogenesis will be induced and that no external heterotopis ossification will be induced.