Applications of self-assembled nanostructures for bone tissue engineering

2 Applications of self-assembled nanostructures for bone tissue engineering 

In the past decade, there are a number of promising self-assembled nanostructures with attractive properties and great potential for bone tissue engineering applications. These nanostructures of interest are in the forms of hydrogels or scaffolds consisting of nanotubular or nanofibrous materials fabricated by the aforementioned methods. Here, some typical self-assembled nanostractures for bone tissue engineering are inhoduced. 

As mentioned before, HRN is DNA-based, hehcal nanofibers in the form of hydrogel that possesses attractive features for orthopedic tissue engineering. These features include (I) HRN has rich amino acid side chains with well-controlled spatial nanoscale distributions that impart more functionahty and versatility to meet a wide range of orthopedic needs (2) HRN hydrogel is able to solidify when heated or added directly into a serum-free medium, which allows them to serve as injectable tissue engineering materials and (3) HRN has demonstrated potential to enhance osteoblast adhesion and serve as an excellent calcification template [13,14], Based on these unique properties, HRN has been stndied or incorporated with other materials or molecules to create a better implantable material for enhancing bone regeneration. 

For example, PA self-assembly is hybridized with fibronectin epitope RGDS (cell adhesion molecule) and HA crystals that nucleate around the phosphoserine residues of PA under appropriate physiological conditions (referring to the biomineralization section in Chapter 4), forming 3-D biomimetic systems as a matrix to promote bone regeneration [15]. Efficacy of this tissue engineering scaffold was tested in an rat 

In the last example, PA nanofibrous matrix was filled to T1-6AMV foam to obtain a PA-Ti hybrid implant in order to overcome the problem of weak osteoinductive and osteoconductive abilities of Ti alloy [20]. This approach combined the 

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