Osteogenic potential and synergistic effects of growth factors delivered from a bionic composite system

Previous research has raised substantial controversy over the synergistic effects of exogenous growth factors, BMP-2 and bFGF, when used together for the treatment of bony defects. Thus, this study evaluated the effects of BMP-2 and bFGF at specified dose ratio composited with n-HA/PU40, a porous scaffold material, for repairing femoral defect in rats. Four weeks after implantation of this composite system, tissue specimens were collected for histological, immunohistochemical examinations, and µ-CT scanning. The results showed that the group DUAL/BMSCs with both the factors had better effect on repairing bone defects than the other four groups in terms of new bone formation and bone-scaffold bonding, suggesting crosstalk between these growth factors during early bone regeneration. This work demonstrates that provided that there is effective contact between cells and active proteins in the defect area, the controlled release of bFGF and BMP-2 have positive synergistic effects on early bone formation in the defect area. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 104A: 659-668, 2016.