Gene-modified BMSCs encapsulated with carboxymethyl cellulose facilitate osteogenesis in vitro and in vivo

• Published in: Journal of biomaterials applications 2021-02, Vol.35 (7), p.814-822
• Main Authors: Zheng, Shicong, Chen, Hanzheng, Zhang, Tingshuai, Yao, Yongchang, Chen, Yi, Zhang, Shujiang, Bai, Bo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 - metabolism; Bone Regeneration - drug effects; Capsules; Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium - chemistry; Cell Differentiation - drug effects; Cell Survival; Doxycycline; Female; Femur - metabolism; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Male; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - cytology; Mice; Mice, Nude; Microfluidics; Osteogenesis; Phenol - chemistry; Polymers - chemistry; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Tissue Engineering - methods
• ISSN: 0885-3282; 1530-8022
• DOI: 10.1177/0885328220948030

Critical size bone defects are one of the most serious complications in orthopedics due to the lack of effective osteogenesis treatment. We fabricated carboxymethyl cellulose with phenol moieties (CMC-ph) microcapsules loaded with gene-modified rat bone mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) that secrete hBMP2 following doxycycline (DOX) induction. The results showed that the morphology of microcapsules was spherical, and their diameters have equally distributed in the range of 100–150 μm; the viability of rBMSCs was unchanged over time. Through real-time PCR and Western blot analyses, the rBMSCs in microcapsules were found to secrete hBMP2 and to have upregulated mRNA and protein expression of osteogenesis-related genes in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the in vivo results suggested that the group with the middle concentration of cells expressed the highest amount of osteogenic protein over time. In this study, we showed that gene-modified rBMSCs in CMC-ph microcapsules had good morphology and viability. The BMP2–BMSCs/CMC-Ph microcapsule system could upregulate osteogenic mRNA and protein in vitro and in vivo. Further analysis demonstrated that the medium concentration of cells had a suitable density for transplantation in nude mice. Therefore, BMP2–BMSCs/CMC-Ph microcapsule constructs have potential for bone regeneration in vivo.