Transplantation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells carried by self-assembling peptide nanofiber hydrogel improves bone regeneration in rat calvarial bone defects

OBJECTIVES/AIMS: The requisite conditions for successful bone tissue engineering are efficient stem cell differentiation into osteogenic cells and a suitable scaffold. In this study, we investigated in vivo bone regeneration from transplanted induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two critical-sized calvarial bone defects were created in 36 rats. The surgical sites were randomly assigned to one of three treatments to test the healing effectiveness of the scaffold alone, scaffold with iPSCs or a salt solution as a control. The effectiveness of the treatments was evaluated after 2 or 4 weeks using radiographic and histological analyses of bone regeneration in the six groups. RESULTS: Micro-computed tomography (CT) analysis of the bone defects found minimal bone regeneration with the salt solution and nanofiber scaffold and increased bone regeneration in defects repaired with iPSCs delivered in the nanofiber scaffold. CONCLUSION: Transplanted iPSCs encapsulated in a nanofiber scaffold can regenerate bone in critical-sized defects.