Enzymatically Enhanced Guided Tissue Regeneration

Abstract

In order to improve the efficacy of mem- branes used for guided tissue regeneration treatments, collagen membranes were surface-modified with the pro-mineralization enzyme alkaline phosphatase (ALP). ALP was surface-immobilized using electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) to preserves the biological activity of the enzyme. Initially, the optimal ALP-deposition time was assessed using ALP-activity assays and an immersion exper- iment with subsequent measurements on calcium deposi- tion. These initial experiments demonstrated that optimally efficient membranes were obtained with an ALP deposition time of 30 minutes. Subsequently, ALP-coated and non- coated controls were enrolled in a cell culture experiment with primary rat bone marrow derived osteoblast-like cells. ALP-coated membranes demonstrated to have no effect on cell proliferation and morphology, but significantly accel- erated the mineralization of the extracellular matrix. These results show the potential of ALP as a surface-immobilized active enzyme in biomaterial research and justify animal experimental work on this topic to obtain in vivo data.