Abstract
Functionalized biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) provide reactive groups and large surface area for grafting recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) to reduce protein diffusion and maintain sufficient concentration for recruitment and differentiation of osteoprogenitor cells. The objective of this work was to investigate release characteristics and osteogenic activity of rhBMP-2, grafted to biodegradable NPs based on succinimide-terminated poly(lactide fumarate) (PLAF-NHS) and poly(lactide-co-glycolide fumarate) (PLGF-NHS) macromers. The release of rhBMP-2 from the NPs, measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, was linear with time in the first two weeks, and 24.70+/-1.30% and 48.7+/-0.7% of the protein grafted to PLGF-NHS and PLAF-NHS NPs, respectively, was released in the enzymatically active conformation after complete degradation/erosion of the NPs. After 14 days of incubation with bone marrow stromal (BMS) cells, rhBMP-2 grafted to PLAF-NHS and PLGF-NHS NPs was as effective in inducing mineralization as the native rhBMP-2 that was directly added to the cell culture media. At any incubation time, rhBMP-2 grafted to PLAF had the highest expression of osteopontin (OP) and osteocalcin (OC), followed by rhBMP-2 grafted to PLGF and rhBMP-2 directly added to media. Higher OP and OC expression for BMP-gPLAF and BMP-gPLGF groups may be related to other factors in the cascade of osteogenesis, such as differentiation of BMS cells to the vasculogenic lineage and formation of a vascularized/mineralized matrix.