Flexible Osteogenic Glue as an All‐In‐One Solution to Assist Fracture Fixation and Healing

Abstract

Osteogenic glue that reproduces the natural bone composition represents the final frontier of orthopedic adhesives with the potential to revolutionize surgical strategies against comminuted fractures. However, it is difficult to achieve an all-in-one formula, which could provide flexible and reliable adhesiveness while avoiding interfering with or even promoting the healing of glued fractures. Herein, an osteogenic glue characterized by inorganic-in-organic integration between amine-modified mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles (AMBGN) and bioadhesive gelatin-dextran network (GelDex) is introduced as an all-in-one tool to flexibly adhere and splice bone fragments and subsequently guide fracture healing during degradation. Relying on such integration, a 4-fold improvement in cohesiveness is presented, followed by a nearly 5-fold enhancement in adhesive strength in ex vivo porcine bone samples. The reversible and re-adjustable adhesiveness also enables glue to effectively splice intricate fragments from highly comminuted fractures in the rabbit radius in an in vivo environment. Moreover, well-preserved organic-inorganic integrity during degradation of the glue guides sustained interfacial osteogenesis and achieve satisfying healing outcomes in glued fractures, as observed by the 2-fold improvement in biomechanical and radiological performance compared with commercially available cyanoacrylate adhesives. The current findings propose an all-in-one solution for the fixation of bone fragments during surgery.

Dual-dynamic-bond cross-linked injectable hydrogel of multifunction for intervertebral disc degeneration therapy

“…Borax and oxidized hyaluronic acid (OHA) were utilized to form borate-diol complexation [41,42], and further reacted with gelatin via Schiff 's base reaction. The dynamic imine bond and boric acid ester bond endowed the hydrogel with excellent selfhealing and injectable properties [43][44][45][46]. As expected, the hydrogel exhibited pyrotechnic antibacterial effect, antioxidant capacity, biocompatibility, tissue adhesiveness, and suitable mechanical properties.…”

Multi-crosslinking hydrogels with robust bio-adhesion and pro-coagulant activity for first-aid hemostasis and infected wound healing

“…S10b , the adhesive strength of the hydrogel in general has increased along with the decrease in its pore size, which may in part be attributed to the increase in its crosslinking density, i.e., the cohesion enhancement [ 17 ]. As illustrated by Tang et al the optimal cohesiveness of the hydrogel may enhance its bio-adhesion, with the adhesive strength of GelDex-5%AMBGN being 108.48 ± 8.45 kPa [ 23 ]. Introduction of multiple hydrogel network is another important reason for the improved crosslinking density and bio-adhesion.…”

“…Various bio-adhesive polysaccharide-based hydrogels have been prepared through different crosslinking strategies [ 20 ]. Thereinto, dynamic covalent bonds based on the click chemistry, e.g., imine and borate ester bonds, can confer the hydrogels with self-healing, reversibility and unique mechanical properties, showing potential application value for many fields including bone fracture and diabetic wound healing [ [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] ]. Unfortunately, insufficient mechanical and adhesive strength have still restricted the applications of polysaccharide-based hydrogels in tissue adhesion and hemostasis.…”

Progress in Gelatin as Biomaterial for Tissue Engineering

“…Since gelatin has the ability to enhance cell adhesion, it may serve as a platform to integrate adhesive hydrogels into the tissue [74]. Similarly, gelatin's tertiary structure enhances the mechanical properties in adhesive hydrogels [75,76]. As an example, Cao et al designed an organic hydrogel with high adhesiveness, stretchability and mechanical properties.…”