Injectable magnesium oxychloride cement foam-derived scaffold for augmenting osteoporotic defect repair.

Hypothesis: Cement augmentation has been widely applied to promote osteoporotic fracture healing, whereas the existing calcium-based products suffer from the excessively slow degradation, which may impede bone regeneration. Magnesium oxychloride cement (MOC) shows promising biodegradation tendency and bioactivity, which is expected to be a potential alternative to the classic calcium-based cement for hard-tissue-engineering applications.

Experiments: Here, a hierarchical porous MOC foam (MOCF)-derived scaffold with favorable bio-resorption kinetic and superior bioactivity is fabricated through Pickering foaming technique. Then, a systematic characterization in terms of material properties and in vitro biological performance have been conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the as-prepared MOCF scaffold to be a bone-augmenting material for treating osteoporotic defects.

Findings: The developed MOCF shows excellent handling performance in the paste state, while exhibiting sufficient load-bearing capacity after solidification. In comparison with the traditional bone cement, calcium deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA), our porous MOCF scaffold demonstrates a much higher biodegradation tendency and better cell recruitment ability. Additionally, the eluted bioactive ions by MOCF commits to a biologically inductive microenvironment, where the in vitro osteogenesis is significantly enhanced. It is anticipated that this advanced MOCF scaffold will be competitive for clinical therapies to augment osteoporotic bone regeneration.