Enhanced Bone Repair by Guided Osteoblast Recruitment Using Topographically Defined Implant

The rapid recruitment of osteoblasts in bone defects is an essential prerequisite for efficient bone repair. Conventionally, osteoblast recruitment to bone defects and subsequent bone repair has been achieved using growth factors. Here, we present a methodology that can guide the recruitment of osteoblasts to bone defects with topographically defined implants (TIs) for efficient in vivo bone repair. We compared circular TIs that had microgrooves in parallel or radial arrangements with nonpatterned implants for osteoblast migration and in vivo bone formation. In vitro, the microgrooves in the TIs enhanced both the migration and proliferation of osteoblasts. Especially, the microgrooves with radial arrangement demonstrated a much higher efficiency of osteoblast recruitment to the implants than did the other types of implants, which may be due to the efficient guidance of cell migration tow…