Enhanced control of in vivo bone formation with surface functionalized alginate microbeads incorporating heparin and human bone morphogenetic protein-2

Abstract

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a surface functionalization delivery platform incorporating heparin onto strontium alginate microbeads surfaces would convert this "naive carriers" into "mini- reservoirs" for localized in vivo delivery of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) that will induce functional bone regeneration. In vitro evaluation confirmed that (1) heparin incorporation could immobilize and prolong rhBMP-2 release for approximately 3 weeks; (2) a significant decrease (p