Journal of nanobiotechnologyDec 22, 2025

Custom-shaped 3D-printed mineral membrane for guiding bone healing in long bone injuries

Regenerative Health Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Jan 19, 2026

Abstract

3D-printed membranes showed precise attachment to the long bone surface.

Segmental large-sized long bone defects are challenging to treat due to limited donor bone availability.
Guided bone regeneration (GBR) may enhance bone healing by preventing soft tissue infiltration.
The GBR technique uses a biomaterial membrane to promote bone cell migration and growth.
A photocurable hydrogel and 3D printing were used to create a GBR membrane tailored for long bone defects.
Incorporating a mineralization-inducing compound into the GBR membrane could enhance cell adhesion and bone formation.
The efficacy of the GBR membranes was assessed using rabbit models of radius bone defects.

Simplified

Segmental large-sized long bone defects remain a significant challenge in clinical practice. The standard treatment, involving autologous or allogeneic graft implantation, is often insufficient due to the limited availability of donor bone. As an alternative therapy for long bone defects, (GBR) presents a promising approach, effectively enhancing bone augmentation by preventing bone defects from soft tissue infiltration and facilitating osteoblast migration. This technique employs a biomaterial membrane as a protective barrier on the bone surface, promoting osteogenesis. This study proposed a GBR membrane designed specifically for long bone defects for fabrication. A photocurable hydrogel and light-processing 3D printing, based on 3D-scanned long bone models, were utilized to achieve fabrication. A mineralization-inducing compound was also incorporated into the material to enhance cell adhesion and osteogenesis. The 3D-printed GBR membranes demonstrated precise attachment to the long bone surface, confirming successful fabrication. The efficacy of the 3D-printed GBR membranes was evaluated in rabbit radius bone defect models.

Key numbers

2×

Increase in BMSC Viability

BMSC viability on 2% and 5% vs.

12 weeks

Bone Volume Increase

Bone regeneration assessed at 12 weeks post-surgery

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Funding

Competing interests

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Human Ethics: Not applicable. No human participants or human data were involved in this study. Animal Ethics: All animal procedures were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Huazhong University of Science (Approval No.: [2023] IACUC Number 4604) and were performed in accordance with institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals. Consent for publication: Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain data from any individual person. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

PubMed

Custom-shaped 3D-printed mineral membrane for guiding bone healing in long bone injuries

Abstract

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