Bone regeneration on the epicondyle of the femur supported by silk fibroin-based scaffold: a model system for dental surgery.

摘要

Two types of silk fibroin-based scaffolds, with or without hydroxyapatite, were examined in a context for guided bone regeneration with potential application for dental surgery. Scaffolds were implanted to artificial bone defects on rabbit femur, which provides similar structure as alveolar bone and healing procedures were observed histologically. Both of the scaffolds were effective to prevent the infiltration of the other types of tissue such as fibrous connective tissue or cartilage, which happens in some cases without implantations and causes incomplete regeneration with subsided surface. In vivo degradation aspect of the scaffolds was significantly different from each other. The degradation was accelerated in the presence of hydroxyapatite, resulting in fragmentation of residual scaffold after eight weeks, where the scaffolds without hydroxyapatite remained uninterrupted. This difference suggests a possibility for tailor-made preparation of scaffolds with different biodegradability as well as controlled release of bioactive substrates.