Structure of biomaterials plays an important role in endogenous bone regeneration

Bone tissue is capable of regenerating to some extent after injury in the human body. Bone regeneration is attributed to both bone developmental pathways: intramembranous ossification and endochondral ossification [1]. However, when the bone defect is larger than the critical defect, the bone defect cannot heal completely. Under such circumstances, bone grafting is necessary for completely healing large bone defects. The bone tissue engineering approach often involves three major elements: scaffold/biomaterials, signaling molecules and relevant cells [2]. Research and development efforts have recently focused on the local release of small molecular drugs, proteins, microRNA, DNA and/or the use of autologous...