Application of biomimetic three-dimensional scaffolds in bone tissue repairing

Abstract

Bone defects and fractures represent common health concerns, with bone repair posing a challenging physiological process. This reparative process is often complicated with the presence of bacterial toxins, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Furthermore, bone tissue, being highly metabolic, requires a substantial amount of nutrients during the healing process. These factors collectively contribute to the difficulty in spontaneous or timely bone tissue regeneration. Currently, the conventional approach to facilitate bone defect healing involves surgically implanting the patient’s autologous tissue graft at the defect sites. However, this method necessitates surgical intervention, presents challenges in deformity correction, exhibits limited plasticity, and has constrained availability, thus increasing the likelihood of associated complications. Clinically, an ideal scaffolds should exhibit attributes such as cost-effectiveness, ease of preparation, minimal invasiveness, and compatibility with the surrounding bone tissue to facilitate nutrient transportation and the formation of blood vessels. This review critically examines the merits and demerits of the two most widely employed three-dimensional (3D) biomimetic scaffolds for bone tissue repairing. Furthermore, it delves into the fundamental prerequisites and prospective advancements of 3D biomimetic porous scaffolds, emphasizing their potential future development trends.

Graphical abstract

Schematic of the process of bone fracture healing process.