Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2023, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (16): 2563-2570.doi: 10.12307/2023.137

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Research progress and application prospect of polyethyleneimine in bone tissue engineering

Huang Yixuan1, Du Bin2, Liu Xin2, Yuan Xinwei1, Xi Hongzhong1, Guo Mingbin1, Mai Jianbin1    

  1. 1Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China; 2Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
  • Received:2022-03-14 Accepted:2022-05-23 Online:2023-06-08 Published:2022-11-11
  • Contact: Du Bin, Professor, Chief physician, Doctoral supervisor, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
  • About author:Huang Yixuan, Master candidate, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
  • Supported by:
    General Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82074471 (to DB); National Natural Science Foundation of China (Youth Fund), No. 81804117 (to LX)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: As a cationic polymer, polyethyleneimine has been widely studied in many fields of medicine. With its rich amino and cationic charges, it has the ability of easy modification and electrostatic adsorption, which has potential advantages and prospects for application in bone tissue engineering.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the research progress of polyethyleneimine in bone tissue engineering, and discuss and explore its development prospect in bone tissue engineering.
METHODS: Relevant articles were searched on PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wanfang databases from January 2000 to March 2022 with the search terms of “polyethyleneimine, bone tissue engineering, bone tissue regeneration, bone tissue repair, regenerative medicine, drug delivery” in English and Chinese. Finally, 57 articles were included for analysis.  
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The complex formed by polyethyleneimine and osteogenic genes based on gene technology is an efficient gene carrier, which can induce seed cells to express osteogenic cytokines and promote osteogenic differentiation. Modification with different groups can reduce the toxicity to seed cells such as mesenchymal stem cells as much as possible without affecting the transfection efficiency of polyethyleneimine. However, no consensus was reached on the key parameters such as the length of DNA and polyethyleneimine chains, charge density of polyethyleneimine, structure and chemical modification, and nitrogen/phosphate. (2) Polyethyleneimine has been optimized in the aspects of biocompatibility, degradation rate, pore size and mechanical strength of the scaffold as a surface coating or a composite prepared directly with the scaffold material. Meanwhile, the application of polyethyleneimine and its derivatives in bone defect repair scaffolds can give the antibacterial activity of scaffolds and enhance the ability of promoting angiogenesis. (3) In terms of in vivo loading of osteogenic inducible factor, the osteogenic inducible factor gene carried by polyethyleneimine had efficient transfection ability in vitro cell experiments. When loaded on the scaffold and implanted into the bone defect animal model, the biocompatibility of the scaffold could be improved, and the bone defect repair effect was ideal, and no serious adverse reactions were reported. However, ectopic gene insertion and promoting ectopic expression of bone protein are still existing problems. (4) In order to achieve targeted drug bone delivery, polyethyleneimine is a “bridge” between target and drug carrier with its abundant modifiable groups. (5) The targeted drug delivery method based on bisphosphonates, stimulus response system and biotin avidin system has not been reported yet, but the current application of polyethyleneimine in the field of drug delivery provides the possibility of realizing this idea, which is worth further exploration. 

Key words: polyethyleneimine, cationic polymers, bone tissue engineering, bone regeneration, bone repair, gene therapy, regenerative medicine, drug delivery

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