2. Academic Validation
  3. Plasma-Enabled Graphene Quantum Dot Hydrogel-Magnesium Composites as Bioactive Scaffolds for In Vivo Bone Defect Repair

Plasma-Enabled Graphene Quantum Dot Hydrogel-Magnesium Composites as Bioactive Scaffolds for In Vivo Bone Defect Repair

  • ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Sep 18. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c05297.
Pei-Chun Wong 1 2,  Darwin Kurniawan 3,  Jia-Lin Wu 2 4 5 6,  Wei-Ru Wang 7,  Kuan-Hao Chen 8 9,  Chieh-Ying Chen 7,  Ying-Chun Chen 10,  Loganathan Veeramuthu 11,  Chi-Ching Kuo 11,  Kostya Ken Ostrikov 12,  Wei-Hung Chiang 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Graduate Institute of Biomedical Optomechatronics, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
  • 2 Orthopedics Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
  • 3 Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan.
  • 4 Department of Orthopedics, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
  • 5 Department of Orthopedics, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
  • 6 Centers for Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
  • 7 School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
  • 8 Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
  • 9 Department of Orthopedics, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei 235, Taiwan.
  • 10 Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan.
  • 11 Department of Molecular Science and Engineering, Institute of Organic and Polymeric Materials, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
  • 12 School of Chemistry and Physics, Centre for Biomedical Technologies and Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.
PMID: 37722031 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c05297
Abstract

Bioactive and mechanically stable metal-based scaffolds are commonly used for bone defect repair. However, conventional metal-based scaffolds induce nonuniform cell growth, limiting damaged tissue restoration. Here, we develop a plasma nanotechnology-enhanced graphene quantum dot (GQD) hydrogel-magnesium (Mg) composite scaffold for functional bone defect repair by integrating a bioresource-derived nitrogen-doped GQD (NGQD) hydrogel into the Mg ZK60 alloy. Each scaffold component brings major synergistic advantages over the current alloy-based state of the art, including (1) mechanical support of the cortical bone and calcium deposition by the released Mg2+ during degradation; (2) enhanced uptake, migration, and distribution of osteoblasts by the porous hydrogel; and (3) improved osteoblast adhesion and proliferation, osteogenesis, and mineralization by the NGQDs in the hydrogel. Through an in vivo study, the hybrid scaffold with the much enhanced osteogenic ability induced by the above synergy promotes a more rapid, uniform, and directional bone growth across the hydrogel channel, compared with the control Mg-based scaffold. This work provides insights into the design of multifunctional hybrid scaffolds, which can be applied in other areas well beyond the demonstrated bone defect repair.

Keywords

bone defect regeneration; composite scaffold; magnesium alloy; nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots; plasma nanotechnology.

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