Table 1.
Recent literature about the combination of scaffolds and ASCs for bone tissue engineering.
| Authors and year of publication | Type of cells | Type of scaffold | Experimental model | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decellularized matrices | ||||
| Vériter S. et al., 2015 [55] | hASCs | Human demineralized bone matrix (DBM) | Clinical case series of 11 patients with bone nonunions | No serious adverse events or oncological recurrences (follow up of 54 months). Fully integrated grafts. Healing of the bone nonunions |
| Ko E. et al., 2016 [56] | hASCs | Decellularized bovine tendon | In vitro+murine calvarial CSD | Increased osteogenic differentiation and closure of 98% of the defect with hASCs+scaffold |
| Zhang C. et al., 2017 [57] | hASCs | ECM+porcine small intestine submucosa (SIS) | In vitro+murine calvarial CSD | ECM-SIS plus hADSCs had the best performance vs. scaffolds alone and vs. hADSCs seeded on SIS-only scaffolds |
| Liu J. et al., 2018 [58] | undiff hASCs vs. osteo hASCs | Deproteinized bone matrix from rabbits (HDB) | Murine 4 mm-long radial bone defect | At 4 and 8 w both undiff hASC+HDB and osteo hASCs+HDB strong osteogenic ability. osteo hASCs+HDB practically indistinguishable from the host bone tissue |
| Guerrero J. et al., 2018 [59] | hASCs | Decellularized human adipose tissue (Adiscaf) vs. collagen scaffold (Ultrafoam) | Chondrogenic differentiation followed by ectopic implantation in mice | After 8 w Adiscaf produced higher amount of mineralized tissue compared to Ultrafoam. The ectopic bone formed through endochondral ossification |
| Wagner J.M. et al., 2019 [60] | hASCs | Human cancellous bone | In vitro+murine femur CSD | hASC+scaffold higher formation of vital bone in comparison to unseeded controls after 4 w |
| Calcium ceramics | ||||
| Canciani E. et al., 2016 [61] | hASCs | HA/TCP | In vitro in osteogenic conditions | The scaffold was able to enhance the osteogenic differentiation of hASCs, more than doubling the cellular alkaline phosphatase activity |
| Farré-Guasch E. et al., 2018 [62] | hASCs | β-TCP or BCP | 10 patients undergoing maxillary sinus floor elevation | Seeded scaffolds had an increased vascularization of the implanted area, which ultimately determined an enhanced bone formation compared to unseeded controls |
| Zhang H. et al., 2018 [63] | Rabbit ASCs in a double cell sheet (DCS) with vascular and osteogenic committed ASCs | cHA | Ectopic ossification in nude mice | The DCS-cHA complexes had, better bone maturation and vascularization of the graft compared to DCS or cHA alone |
| Chandran S. et al., 2018 [64] | Sheep ASCs | Strontium (Sr) HA | In vitro+sheep model of osteoporosis | ASCs acted synergically with Sr ions. Enhanced osteogenic capacity of the cellular SrHA scaffold vs. acellular scaffold controls. In vivo osteointegration of the construct was superior to controls |
| Synthetic polymers and hybrid scaffolds | ||||
| Carvalho P.P. et al. 2014 [65] | hASCs | Wet-spun starch + PCL (SPCL) | In vitro+murine calvarial CSD | ASCs improved the osteogenic function of SPCL and promoted better bone deposition in the CSD. SPCL was able to induce osteogenic differentiation in ASCs even without osteogenic factors |
| Mellor L.F. et al., 2015 [66] | hASCs | Stacked nanofibrous PLA+0% or 20% of TCP nanoparticles | In vitro | In chondrogenic differentiation medium, ASCs' commitment either toward osteogenesis or chondrogenesis, depending on different calcium concentrations |
| Lee J. W. et al., 2017 [67] | Canine ASCs | 3D-printed PCL/TCP scaffold | In vitro+canine model of a maxillary bone defect | The scaffold enhanced the osteogenic capacity of ASC process of ossification of the defect after 12 weeks, confirmed by the3D CT and histological analysis |
| Duan W. et al., 2018 [68] | Equine ASCs | TCP/HA (40 : 60), PEG/PLLA (60 : 40), or PEG/PLLA/TCP/HA (36 : 24 : 24 : 16) | In vitro+murine ectopic ossification model | TCP/HA and PEG/PLLA/TCP/HA promoted osteogenic differentiation of ASCs in the absence of differentiating factors. Scaffold with ASCs more ECM and osteoid tissue vs. scaffolds without cells |
| Natural polymers | ||||
| Correia C. et al., 2012 [69] | hASCs | Porous HFIP(hexafluoro-2-propanol)-derived silk fibroin scaffold | In vitro | The osteogenic performance at week 2 and new calcium deposition at week 7 of ASCs on silk scaffold were comparable to those of ASCs on decellularized trabecular bone |
| Calabrese G. et al., 2016 [70] | hASCs | Collagen/HA | In vitro | Undifferentiated ASCs on the scaffold underwent full differentiation into mature osteoblasts even without osteogenic medium |
| Mazzoni E. et al., 2017 [71] | hASCs | Collagen/HA | In vitro | Collagen/HA upregulated osteogenic genes and improved cellular viability and matrix mineralization, similar to osteogenic culture conditions |
| Toosi S. et al., 2019 [72] | Rabbit ASCs | Collagen sponge/PGA | In vitro+rabbit calvarial CSD | The scaffold promoted the healing of the defect. No difference between the scaffold-only group vs. the scaffold+ASC group. |
| Ko E. et al., 2017 [73] | hASCs and hASCs transfected with TAZ gene | Electrospun silk fibroin nanofiber scaffold functionalized with two-stage HA particles | In vitro+murine calvarial CSD | Constructs seeded with TAZ-transfected ASCs had the best osteogenic performance. All scaffolds seeded with hASCs proved to be superior to the unseeded scaffold |
List of abbreviations: w = weeks; hASCs = human adipose stem cells; ECM = extracellular matrix; CSD = critical-sized defects; undiff hASCs = undifferentiated human adipose stem cells; osteo hASCs = osteogenically differentiated human adipose stem cells; HA = hydroxyapatite; TCP = tricalcium phosphate; β-TCP = β-tricalcium phosphate; BCP = biphasic calcium phosphate; cHA = coralline-derived hydroxyapatite; PGA = polyglycolic acid; PCL = polycaprolactone; PLA = polylactic acid; PLLA = poly-L-lactic-acid; PEG = polyethylene glycol.