A natural multifunction and multiscale hierarchical matrix as a drug-eluting scaffold for biomedical applications†

Sea urchin spines are biogenic single crystals of magnesium calcite that are stiff, strong, damage tolerant and light and have a bicontinuous porous structure. Here, we showed that the removal of their intraskeletal organic matrix materials did not affect the compressive mechanical properties and generated an open porosity. This matrix was able to adsorb and release oxytetracycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic. The drug-loaded sea urchin matrix induced bacterial cell death after 4 and 8 hours of incubation of both Gram-negative E. coli and Gram-positive S. aureus strains and this process induces an inhibition of bacterial cell adhesion. In conclusion, this study shows that thermally treated sea urchin spines are a compressive resistant and lightweight matrix able to load drugs and with potential use in spine fusion, a challenging application that requires withstanding high compressive loading.