Natural bone collagen scaffold combined with OP-1 for bone formation induction in vivo

The scaffold is a key element to osteogenic tissue engineering as it provides a microenvironment for bone formation. Natural bone collagen scaffold (NBCS) is a novel biomaterial scaffold acid-extracted from organic human bone. The objective of this study was to characterize NBCS and evaluate the osteoconductivity of the scaffold, in combination with osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1), using a rabbit posteolateral lumbar fusion model. Thirty two rabbits were divided into 4 experimental groups, autograft, NBCS alone, OP-1 alone or NBCS combined with OP-1. Bone formation was evaluated by micro-CT, quantitative histological analysis, immunohistochemistry and semi-quantitative RT-PCR at 6 weeks postoperatively. By scanning electronic microscope, we showed that NBCS maintains a porous, interconnecting microarchitecture. Micro-CT analysis demonstrated that NBCS combined with OP-1 significantly induced (p < 0.01) bone formation at the fusion site as compared to control groups. This was confirmed by quantitative histological analysis which demonstrated that the NBCS combined with OP-1 significantly enhanced bone matrix area (17.7 mm(2)) (p < 0.05) and bone marrow cavity size (71.3 mm(2)) (p < 0.05) as compared to the controls. Immunohistochemical assessment and RT-PCR also demonstrated that NBCS combined with OP-1 enhanced type I collagen and osteonectin expression. Together, these results suggest that NBCS is an effective scaffold for osteogenesis, and combined with growth factors such as OP-1, possesses both osteoconductive and osteoinductive properties that are sufficient for bone regeneration.