Sequential sequestrations increase the incorporation and retention of multiple growth factors in mineralized collagen scaffolds

Trauma induced injuries of the mouth, jaw, face, and related structures present unique clinical challenges due to their large size and complex geometry. Growth factor signaling coordinates the behavior of multiple cell types following an injury, and effective coordination of growth factor availability within a biomaterial can be critical for accelerating bone healing. Mineralized collagen scaffolds are a class of degradable biomaterial whose biophysical and compositional parameters can be adjusted to facilitate cell invasion and tissue remodeling. Here we describe the use of modified simulated body fluid treatments to enable sequential sequestration of bone morphogenic protein 2 and vascular endothelial growth factor into mineralized collagen scaffolds for bone repair. We report the capability of these scaffolds to sequester growth factors from solution without additional crosslinking treatments and show high levels of retention for individual and multiple growth factors that can be layered into the material via sequential sequestration steps. Sequentially sequestering growth factors allows prolonged release of growth factors in vitro and suggests the potential to improve healing of large-scale bone injury models in vivo. Future work will utilize this sequestration method to induce cellular activities critical to bone healing such as vessel formation and cell migration.