Occlusive membranes for guided regeneration of inflamed tissue defects.

Guided bone regeneration aided by the application of occlusive membranes is a promising therapy for diverse inflammatory periodontal diseases. Symbiosis, homeostasis between the host microbiome and cells, occurs in the oral environment under normal, but not pathologic, conditions. Here, we develop a symbiotically integrating occlusive membrane by mimicking the tooth enamel growth or multiple nucleation biomineralization processes. We perform human saliva and in vivo canine experiments to confirm that the symbiotically integrating occlusive membrane induces a symbiotic healing environment. Moreover, we show that the membrane exhibits tractability and enzymatic stability, maintaining the healing space during the entire guided bone regeneration therapy period. We apply the symbiotically integrating occlusive membrane to treat inflammatory-challenged cases in vivo, namely, the open and closed healing of canine premolars with severe periodontitis. We find that the membrane promotes symbiosis, prevents negative inflammatory responses, and improves cellular integration. Finally, we show that guided bone regeneration therapy with the symbiotically integrating occlusive membrane achieves fast healing of gingival soft tissue and alveolar bone.

Effect of strontium substitution on functional activity of phosphate-based glass.

Phosphate-based glass (PBG) is a bioactive agent, composed of a glass network with phosphate as the primary component and can be substituted with various therapeutic ions for functional enhancement. Strontium (Sr) has been shown to stimulate osteogenic activity and inhibit pro-inflammatory responses. Despite this potential, there are limited studies that focus on the proportion of Sr substituted and its impact on the functional activity of resulting Sr-substituted PBG (PSr). In this study, focusing on the cellular biological response we synthesized and investigated the functional activity of PSr by characterizing its properties and comparing the effect of Sr substitution on cellular bioactivity. Moreover, we benchmarked the optimal composition against 45S5 bioactive glass (BG). Our results showed that PSr groups exhibited a glass structure and phosphate network like that of PBG. The release of Sr and P was most stable for PSr6, which showed favorable cell viability. Furthermore, PSr6 elicited excellent early osteogenic marker expression and inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression, which was significant compared to BG. In addition, compared to BG, PSr6 had markedly higher expression of osteopontin in immunocytochemistry, higher ALP expression in osteogenic media, and denser alizarin red staining in vitro. We also observed a comparable in vivo regenerative response in a 4-week rabbit calvaria defect model. Therefore, based on the results of this study, PSr6 could be identified as the functionally optimized composition with the potential to be applied as a valuable bioactive component of existing biomaterials used for bone regeneration.