Biofabrication of biomimetic bone microtissue

• Grant number: 20/11564-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: December 01, 2021 - November 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Katiúcia Batista da Silva Paiva
• Grantee: Katiúcia Batista da Silva Paiva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: José Mauro Granjeiro ; Leandra Santos Baptista ; Yoshifumi Itoh

Abstract

Bone grafts are indispensable in orthopedics and dentistry and at a high cost to the health system, but all the methods employed and bone substitutes developed to date do not offer an ideal graft for bone regeneration. Bone Bioengineering recommends an individualized treatment, where the individual's cells are associated with scaffolds/biomaterials to generate a customized bone graft in the laboratory. 3D cell culture, especially of spheroids, has stood out for mimicking the conditions of the tissue environment, restoring cell-cell interactions, cell-extracellular matrix and secretome enriched with important factors for regenerative events. The stem cells from dental pulp of adult (DPSCs) and deciduous teeth (SHEDs) have been shown to be relevant for craniofacial bone reconstruction. In the concept of Medicina 4.0, the association of spheroids with hydrogels leads to the formation of bioinks for 3D bioprinting, generating biomimetic micro tissues. Our laboratory is developing a hydrogel based on type I collagen/chitosan/hyaluronic acid and a nanohydroxyapatite (nanoHA), developed by Inmetro. The association of both can generate a biomimetic matrix that recapitulates the bone matrix. Therefore, Our goal is the biofabrication of biomimetic micro bone tissue from DPSCs/SHEDs spheroids. Thus, it is divided into 3 subprojects: (1) spheroid characterization of DPSCs/SHEDs; (2) application of spheroids in the development of an innovative osteoconduction and/or osteoinduction test in vitro; (3) characterization of spheroids + hydrogel/nanoHA. Based on basic research, we intend to apply the knowledge to create innovative and validated in vitro platforms. (AU)