Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2023, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (29): 4712-4722.doi: 10.12307/2023.663

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Osteoimmunological effects of macrophages

Tian Yuyi, Liu Lihong   

  1. The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
  • Received:2022-08-29 Accepted:2022-09-28 Online:2023-10-18 Published:2022-12-02
  • Contact: Liu Lihong, MD, Chief physician, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
  • About author:Tian Yuyi, Master candidate, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
  • Supported by:
    The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82171581 (to LLH)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Macrophages have received extensive attention from scholars for their remarkable osteoimmunological effects, and their functions and applications have become a research hot spot. The current research mainly involves the origin, polarization and osteoimmunological effects of macrophages and their applications in bone repair.  
OBJECTIVE: To confirm the outstanding research value and application prospects of macrophages in bone tissue engineering through reviewing research advances in osteoimmunological effects of macrophages and their applications in bone repair.
METHODS:  PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI databases were used to search the related articles published from 2010 to 2022. The search terms were “macrophage polarization, bone, osteogenesis, osteoimmunology, biomaterials, tissue engineering”. The searches to English and Chinese language publications were limited. A small number of old classic literature was also included. An initial screening was performed by reading the titles and abstracts to exclude literature that was not relevant to the topic of the article, and 120 papers were finally included for the analysis of the results.  
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Macrophages include monocyte-derived inflammatory macrophages and tissue-resident macrophages, of which different tissue-resident macrophages have different combinations of developmental origins; most tissue-resident macrophages originate from the yolk sac during the embryonic period. (2) Macrophages, highly pastic cells, undergo M1 or M2 macrophage polarization and release pro- or anti-inflammatory factors in response to different stimuli. Alternatively, macrophage polarization is regulated by multiple signaling pathways, including the AMPK-mTOR, Notch, MAPK, STAT, NF-кB, and Akt signaling pathways. (3) The osteoimmunological effects of macrophages involve the crosstalk between macrophages and skeletal cells. The effective application of osteoimmunological effects of macrophages in bone repair can be realized by modifying the physicochemical properties of biomaterials such as stiffness, roughness, pore size, and hydrophilicity or by combining single or multiple biologically active substances such as drugs, cytokines, metal ions, and microRNAs.

Key words: macrophage polarization, bone, osteogenesis, osteoimmunology, biomaterial, tissue engineering

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