Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Oct 5;14(19):4186.
doi: 10.3390/polym14194186.

Hydrogel: A Potential Material for Bone Tissue Engineering Repairing the Segmental Mandibular Defect

D S Abdullah Al Maruf  1   2 , Yohaann Ali Ghosh  1   2 , Hai Xin  1   2 , Kai Cheng  3 , Payal Mukherjee  1   3 , Jeremy Micah Crook  4   5   6   7   8   9 , Gordon George Wallace  7   8 , Travis Jacob Klein  10 , Jonathan Robert Clark  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Hydrogel: A Potential Material for Bone Tissue Engineering Repairing the Segmental Mandibular Defect

D S Abdullah Al Maruf et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Free flap surgery is currently the only successful method used by surgeons to reconstruct critical-sized defects of the jaw, and is commonly used in patients who have had bony lesions excised due to oral cancer, trauma, infection or necrosis. However, donor site morbidity remains a significant flaw of this strategy. Various biomaterials have been under investigation in search of a suitable alternative for segmental mandibular defect reconstruction. Hydrogels are group of biomaterials that have shown their potential in various tissue engineering applications, including bone regeneration, both through in vitro and in vivo pre-clinical animal trials. This review discusses different types of hydrogels, their fabrication techniques, 3D printing, their potential for bone regeneration, outcomes, and the limitations of various hydrogels in preclinical models for bone tissue engineering. This review also proposes a modified technique utilizing the potential of hydrogels combined with scaffolds and cells for efficient reconstruction of mandibular segmental defects.

Keywords: 3D printing; bone tissue engineering; hydrogel; mandibular defect; scaffolds.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Actions of osteoclasts, osteoblasts and bone lining cells in the context of a segmental mandibular defect. Selected molecular mechanisms of regulation between osteoblasts and osteoclasts include BMP6, WNT10B, SEMA4D, CT-1, M-CSF, RANKL, and WNT5A.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proposed classification of mandibular defects. Mean defect size (dark shading); total extent of mandibular defect (light shading). Reprinted with permission from Elsevier [30].
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A,B) Three-dimensional mandibular resection and design of the mandibular resection guide for a patient with intra-osseous carcinoma of the mandible, using the virtual surgical planning software. (C) Virtual planning of the fibular inset. (D,E) Automatic virtual planning of fibula flap length, osteotomy angle, and osteotomy guide. (F) Virtual planning of the mandibular reconstruction template Reprinted with permission from Elsevier [44].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Non-vascularised iliac bone graft adapted to premolded reconstructing plate. Reprinted with permission from [45].
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Schematic of SLA 3D printer. (b) SLA printed hydrogel cantilevers with different molecular weight (700/3400 Da) of PEGDA. Scale bar, 1 mm. (c) SLA printed hydrogel buckyball and valve at different condition. Scale bar, 2 cm. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier [152].
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Schematic of extrusion-based 3D printers. (b) Reversible gel-sol transition of particular gel-based ink under cyclic shearing strains of 1% (G′ > G″) and 10% (G′ < G″). (c) i. A rat-size thigh-bone and ii. a human-size ear model fabricated by extrusion-based 3D printing. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier [152].
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) Schematic of inkjet-based 3D printer. (b) Model and confocal slices at relative positions of a inkjet-based 3D printed microvasculature. Scale bar, 200 µm. (c) Micropatterned conducting hydrogel by inkjet-based 3D printing. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier [152].
Figure 8
Figure 8
Combination of scaffold made of different biomaterials and hydrogel containing stem cells, and growth factors to repair a segmental mandibular defect.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Application of hydrogel, stem cells, and growth factors to create customized ectopic bone with a goal to repair a segmental mandibular defect.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Paré A., Bossard A., Laure B., Weiss P., Gauthier O., Corre P. Reconstruction of Segmental Mandibular Defects: Current Procedures and Perspectives. Laryngoscope Investig. Otolaryngol. 2019;4:587–596. doi: 10.1002/lio2.325. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mercado-Pagán Á.E., Stahl A.M., Shanjani Y., Yang Y. Vascularization in Bone Tissue Engineering Constructs. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 2015;43:718–729. doi: 10.1007/s10439-015-1253-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Puppi D., Chiellini F., Piras A.M., Chiellini E. Progress in Polymer Science Polymeric Materials for Bone and Cartilage Repair. Prog. Polym. Sci. 2010;35:403–440. doi: 10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2010.01.006. - DOI
    1. Al Maruf D.S.A., Parthasarathi K., Cheng K., Mukherjee P., McKenzie D.R., Crook J.M., Wallace G.G., Clark J.R. Current and Future Perspectives on Biomaterials for Segmental Mandibular Defect Repair. Int. J. Polym. Mater. Polym. Biomater. 2022:1–13. doi: 10.1080/00914037.2022.2052729. - DOI
    1. Patel N., Gohil P. A Review on Biomaterials: Scope, Applications & Human Anatomy Significance. Int. J. Emerg. Technol. Adv. Eng. 2012;2:91–101.

LinkOut - more resources