Repair of the calvarial defect in goat model using magnesium-doped porous hydroxyapatite combined with recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a representative bone repairing biomaterial for its similar composition to human bones and teeth. However, pure HA is limited in application for some unwanted characteristic, such as it is brickle and weakness in degradation. In this study, we modified HA by doping magnesium (Mg) to the material and studied its property in vitro. Besides, we also evaluated the calvarial defect repair effect using MgHA combined with rhBMP-2 in goat model. According to our outcomes, HA composited Mg made the scaffold smooth and the pore regular. In vitro study, Mg could increase the Ca releasing, which may reflect a faster degradation property modified by Mg. And then, MgHA improved the cell viability and proliferation. Furthermore, MgHA could increase the expression of ALP, Collagen I and VEGF protein compared with pure HA (p < 0.5, respectively). In the vivo study, MgHA showed a better bone defect healing effect in computed tomography (CT) evaluation compared with HA (p < 0.05), but it was inferior to the MgHA/rhBMP-2 (p < 0.05). Besides, in the histological analysis, MgHA/rhBMP-2 showed the most effective bone formation outcome (p < 0.05), and the MgHA group was significant better than the pure HA group on osteogenesis (p < 0.05). Furthermore, Collagen I and VEGF mRNA expression at 12 week in MgHA/rhBMP-2 group were also significat higher than other two groups. In conclusion, Mg had effects on bone formation and angiogenesis, and MgHA/rhBMP-2 had improved the bone defect repair effect. It is worthy of being recommended to bone tissue engineering.