Plasmid DNA-loaded asymmetrically porous membrane for guided bone regeneration

Abstract

Although bone defects can be restored spontaneously, bone reconstruction with sufficient strength and volume continues to be a challenge in clinical practices. In recent years, the use of a variety of biomaterials with bioactivity has been attempted to compensate for this limitation. Herein, we fabricated a pDNA (encoding for BMP-2)-loaded asymmetrically porous polycaprolactone (PCL)/Pluronic F127 membrane as a bioactive guided bone regeneration (GBR) membrane, using a modified immersion-precipitation method. It was observed that the GBR membrane allows continuous release of pDNA for more than 20 weeks. The pDNA was sufficiently transfected into human bone marrow stem cells (hBMSCs) without significant cytotoxicity and the gene-transfected cells showed prolonged synthesis of BMP-2. From in vitro osteogenic differentiation and in vivo animal studies, the effective induction of osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs and enhanced bone regeneration by the pDNA-loaded asymmetrically porous PCL/Pluronic F127 membrane was observed, suggesting that the pDNA-loaded membrane as a bioactive GBR membrane can be an alternative therapeutic technique for effective bone regeneration.