Establishment of Collagen: Hydroxyapatite/BMP-2 Mimetic Peptide Composites

Extensive efforts were undertaken to develop suitable biomaterials for tissue engineering (TE) applications. To facilitate clinical approval processes and ensure the success of TE applications, bioinspired concepts are currently focused on. Working on bone tissue engineering, we describe in the present study a method for biofunctionalization of collagen/hydroxyapatite composites with BMP-2 mimetic peptides. This approach is expected to be fundamentally transferable to other tissue engineering fields. A modified BMP-2 mimetic peptide containing a negatively charged poly-glutamic acid residue (E7 BMP-2 peptide) was used to bind positively charged hydroxyapatite (HA) particles by electrostatic attraction. Binding efficiency was biochemically detected to be on average 85% compared to 30% of BMP-2 peptide without E7 residue. By quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) analysis, we could demonstrate the time-dependent dissociation of the BMP-2 mimetic peptides and the stable binding of the E7 BMP-2 peptides on HA-coated quartz crystals. As shown by immunofluorescence staining, alkaline phosphatase expression is similar to that detected in jaw periosteal cells (JPCs) stimulated with the whole BMP-2 protein. Mineralization potential of JPCs in the presence of BMP-2 mimetic peptides was also shown to be at least similar or significantly higher when low peptide concentrations were used, as compared to JPCs cultured in the presence of recombinant BMP-2 controls. In the following, collagen/hydroxyapatite composite materials were prepared. By proliferation analysis, we detected a decrease in cell viability with increasing HA ratios. Therefore, we chose a collagen/hydroxyapatite ratio of 1:2, similar to the natural composition of bone. The following inclusion of E7 BMP-2 peptides within the composite material resulted in significantly elevated long-term JPC proliferation under osteogenic conditions. We conclude that our advanced approach for fast and cost-effective scaffold preparation and biofunctionalization is suitable for improved and prolonged JPC proliferation. Further studies should prove the functionality of composite scaffolds in vivo.