Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2024, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (3): 472-478.doi: 10.12307/2023.973

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Characteristics of hydrogel microspheres in bone tissue engineering

Long Zhirui1, Huang Lei1, Xiao Fang1, Wang Lin1, 2, Wang Xiaobei2   

  1. 1Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Research Center, 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Union Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China
  • Received:2022-12-09 Accepted:2023-01-13 Online:2024-01-28 Published:2023-07-10
  • Contact: Wang Xiaobei, Associate chief physician, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Union Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China Wang Lin, Professor, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Research Center, and Department of Clinical Laboratory, Union Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China
  • About author:Long Zhirui, Master candidate, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Research Center, Union Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Hydrogel microparticles, due to their porous and injectable properties, have demonstrated unique advantages in biomedical fields, such as the delivery of cells and bioactive factors/drugs, the construction of tissue repair scaffolds. They have broad application prospects.
OBJECTIVE: To review the latest research progress and discuss the key problems and challenges in the research of bone tissue engineering based on hydrogel microparticles. 
METHODS: The relevant articles in PubMed and CNKI were searched by computer. The English key words were “hydrogels, microparticles, microspheres, microcarriers, bone, bone defect, bone repair, bone healing, bone tissue engineering” while the Chinese key words were “hydrogels, microparticles, microspheres, bone tissue engineering, bone defect, bone repair, bone regeneration”. The retrieval period was from 2002 to 2022, and 127 articles were finally included for review. 
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) At present, various hydrogel microparticles have been developed for use in bone tissue engineering strategies, for example, hydrogel microparticles carrying cells or bioactive factors/drugs, hydrogel microparticles as biological scaffolds, stimulus-responsive hydrogel microparticles, biomineralized hydrogel microparticles, hydrogel microparticles combined with other biological materials. (2) Bone tissue engineering repair strategies based on hydrogel microparticles mainly regulate bone repair by promoting stem cell recruitment and osteogenic differentiation, regulating the local inflammatory microenvironment and promoting angiogenesis at the site of injury. However, the present studies did not deeply explore the effect of bone tissue engineering based on hydrogel microparticles on the recruitment and differentiation of endogenous stem cells and the regulation of the inflammatory microenvironment by the physical and chemical properties of hydrogel microparticles. The long-term in vivo adverse reactions of hydrogel microparticles have not been explored yet, and it is difficult to mass-produce them, thus future research needs to strengthen the mechanism exploration and technical route, so as to provide a reasonable reference for the development of hydrogel microparticles that can be used for clinical transformation.

Key words: hydrogel microparticle, spherical hydrogel, bone defect, bone repair, bone regeneration, bone tissue engineering

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