International journal of biological macromoleculesFeb 4, 2024

Injectable light-activated silk and mineral gel for bone healing by controlling immune response

Regenerative Health Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 30, 2026

Abstract

Composite hydrogel scaffolds with 10% nano-hydroxyapatite enhance osteogenic effects.

A hydrogel biomaterial derived from silk fibroin was developed for bone regeneration.
The integration of nano-hydroxyapatite into the hydrogel formed a composite that cross-links rapidly.
In vitro tests showed that scaffolds containing 10% nano-hydroxyapatite had improved effects on bone cell growth.
Transcriptomic analysis suggested that the composite hydrogel may facilitate bone regeneration by promoting M2 macrophage polarization.
Experiments in rat femoral defects demonstrated the potential effectiveness of the hydrogel in supporting bone healing.

Simplified

Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising approach for addressing bone defects. Most of the traditional 3D printing materials predominantly relying on polymers and ceramics. Although these materials exhibit superior osteogenic effects, their gradual degradation poses a limitation. Digital light processing (DLP) 3D bioprinting that uses natural biomaterials as bioinks has become one of the promising strategies for bone regeneration. In this study, we introduce a hydrogel biomaterial derived from silk fibroin (SF). Notably, we present the novel integration of nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) into the hydrogel, forming a composite hydrogel that rapidly cross-links upon initiation. Moreover, we demonstrate the loading of nHA through non-covalent bonds in SilMA. In vitro experiments reveal that composite hydrogel scaffolds with 10 % nHA exhibit enhanced osteogenic effects. Transcriptomic analysis indicates that the composite hydrogel promotes bone regeneration by inducing M2 macrophage polarization. Furthermore, rat femoral defect experiments validate the efficacy of SilMA/nHAin bone regeneration. This study synthesis of a simple and effective composite hydrogel bioink for bone regeneration, presenting a novel strategy for the future implementation of digital 3D printing technology in bone tissue engineering. 10

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Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

PubMed

Injectable light-activated silk and mineral gel for bone healing by controlling immune response

Abstract

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