Innovative bone regeneration technology developed by Yonsei University researchers

A technology that sequentially releases antibiotics and growth agents to enhance bone regeneration has been developed by a collaborative research team from Yonsei University.

Patients suffering from chronic inflammatory bone diseases such as periodontal disease or osteoporosis experience slow bone regeneration. In such cases, artificial bone grafts are used. Recently, these artificial bones have been engineered to contain antibiotics and growth substances to promote bone regeneration naturally.

The order in which these substances are released significantly affects the stability and speed of the bone regeneration environment. Initially, antibiotics are released to prevent infection at the surgical site, followed by growth substances that actively promote bone regeneration.

However, until now, there has been no researched method to finely and accurately control the release sequence of these two crucial substances.

The new technology introduced by the team, led by Professors Cha Jae-gook of the Department of Periodontology and Hong Jin-kee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, integrates both antibiotics and bone growth materials into a synthetic bone graft, which is then implanted into the bone deficit areas.

In detail, the team devised a method using synthetic protein gelatin implanted into the artificial bone. The outer part of the artificial bone contains antibiotics, while the inner part includes gelatin enriched with growth substances. Initially, the antibiotics in the outer part naturally dissolve into the bone tissue first, followed by the release of growth substances from the inside.

When this method was applied to adult dogs with extensive bone defects (including teeth), the implanted artificial bone integrated well within the body and regenerated new bone at more than double the rate of previous methods.

“We have confirmed the effectiveness of our technology in sequentially releasing antibiotics and growth substances, which are essential to safely promote bone regeneration,” Professor Cha said. “The findings could benefit cancer patients with large bone defects, as well as patients with osteoporosis and diabetes who have less ability to regenerate bone.”

Nano Today published the result of the study.