The journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces has published a paper on an innovative, multifunctional hydrogel hybrid material that could be used to repair bone tissue, particularly small osteoporotic bone defects. The gel was created by researchers from the Jagiellonian University Faculty of Chemistry.
The specially designed composition of the hydrogel hybrid material allows for biointegration and acts as an effective biomatrix for osteoblastic cells. ‘The hybrids are composed of a biopolymeric collagen/chitosan/hyaluronic acid matrix and amine group-functionalised silica particles decorated with apatite to which the alendronate molecules were coordinated. The components of these systems were integrated and stabilized by cross-linking with genipin, a compound of natural origin. They can be precisely injected into the diseased tissue in the form of a viscous sol or a partially cross-linked hydrogel, where they can serve as scaffolds for locally controlled bone tissue regeneration/remodeling by supporting the osteoblast formation/proliferation and maintaining the optimal osteoclast level. These materials lack systemic toxicity. They can be particularly useful for the repair of small osteoporotic bone defects’ reads the abstract of the paper.
The authors of the paper Addressing the Osteoporosis Problem—Multifunctional Injectable Hybrid Materials for Controlling Local Bone Tissue Remodeling are members of the Nanoengineering of Functional Polymeric Materials Group working at the JU Faculty of Chemistry: Adriana Gilarska, Dr Kamil Kamiński, Prof. Maria Nowakowska and Dr hab. Joanna Lewandowska-Łańcucka. The publication was prepared in collaboration with Alicja Hinz and Dr Monika Brzozowska from the JU Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology as well as Dr Grzegorz Dyduch from the JU Faculty of Medicine.
