Bone regeneration finds an ally in bone tissue engineering

• The I3A Mechanobiology research group works to create supports that facilitate the recovery of natural bone
• Some of its lines focus on recreating the microenvironment of the bone, modeling it on a computer, and 3D printing of bone grafts that promote the proliferation and differentiation of cells.
• The G-9 group of Universities recognized this research at the Doctoral Conference with a second prize from the jury to Pilar Alamán, industrial engineer

Bone tissue engineering aims to create supports that imitate natural bone both in their structure and in the function they have to develop. Bone grafts and scaffolds must also reproduce the properties of the extracellular matrix and provide all the necessary environmental signals found in natural bone.

Bone is a tissue capable of regenerating itself after small defects and, over time, it completely remodels itself. Bone tissue engineering tries to reproduce this mechanism that bone has naturally (bone remodeling) and transfer it to the regeneration of serious problems or to enhance remodeling in patients whose bones have lost that capacity, as is the case of people who suffer from osteoporosis. The incidence of this disease is increasing due to the aging of the population and, therefore, it is a problem to be addressed.

At the Engineering Research Institute of Aragon (I3A) of the University of Zaragoza, the Multiscale Mechanical and Biological Engineering (M2BE) group works from Tissue Engineering in the development of new numerical methodologies and technologies, computer simulation and experimentation. in-vitro to respond to these needs and so that a patient with a bone problem can recover from the regeneration of their own cells.

Her work has recently been recognized at the Doctoral Conference of the G-9 group of Universities, where Pilar Alamán, one of the young researchers from the I3A, received a second prize from the jury for her work, focused on recreating the micro environment of the bone, creating a micrometer-scale bone tissue model with human cells. “By achieving this, the model can be used to study different strategies that enhance bone formation and regeneration. For example, it is known that mechanical stimulation promotes bone formation and different stimuli are being tested that mechanically excite the cultures, so we can see their effect," explains Pilar Alamán, industrial engineer, master in Biomedical Engineering, who is part of the research group M2BE, with a grant from the Government of Aragon whose thesis is co-directed by María Ángeles Pérez Ansón, researcher at I3A, and by Manuel Arruebo from INMA (Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon).

To do this, he works with a device where "the bone model is created in which cells embedded in a collagen matrix are planted, which is the protein that is present in greatest quantity in the bone, which helps to more accurately recreate the physiological conditions,” says Pilar Alamán. In this way, the process of transformation of immature cells (osteoblasts) into mature cells (osteocyte) is studied.

From here, from this micro model, the M2BE research group wants to carry out experiments on a larger scale, using scaffolds made of biocompatible materials (scaffolds) that serve as support for the cells and thus facilitate the filling of the bone defect, blood flow can be recreated with the use of bioreactors, "in the end the bone is a highly vascularized tissue and a parameter that is not taken into account in traditional studies," points out the I3A researcher, who also remembers that In the longer term, “these models could be used to study regeneration therapies as a prior step to replacing animal tests.”