科学家制造出了一种可植入的多层胶囊，它可以主动地促进新骨的形成，这可以帮助治疗退化的软骨以及关节炎和骨质疏松症等骨疾病。与皮肤和肝脏不同，软骨组织和有病的骨没有自我修复能力，这很可能让外科手术成为了无数人的唯一选择。胚胎干细胞代表了一种可能的治疗来源，但是几乎没有疗法能够动员这些细胞的潜力。

Nadia Benkirane-Jessel及其同事开发了一种纳米结构的胶囊，在单独的层中嵌入了两种生长因子。这些胶囊能促使小鼠的胚胎干细胞在体外转化成矿化的骨结构。这组科学家在活体试验中把这些胶囊和干细胞培养在一种藻酸盐凝胶基底中，后者常用于组织工程。当植入到受伤的小鼠体内后，这种胶囊促进了注射部位的骨再生以及围绕这种基底和渗入其中的血管的形成。这组作者提处，把各种类型的分子整合到这些层中可以让他们制造出针对各种骨和软骨疾病的疗法。（生物谷Bioon.com）

生物谷推荐原始出处：

PNAS February 16, 2010, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0908531107

Active multilayered capsules for in vivo bone formation

S. Faccaa,1, C. Cortezb,1, C. Mendoza-Palomaresa,1, N. Messadeqc,1, A. Dierichc,1, A. P. R. Johnstonb, D. Mainardd,e, J.-C. Voegela, F. Carusob, and N. Benkirane-Jessela,b,e,2

aa: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Unité 977, Faculté de Médecine, 11 rue Humann, 67085 Strasbourg Cedex, France, b: Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire Université de Strasbourg (UdS), 1 place de l’h?pital, 67084, Strasbourg, France;
bCenter for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Department of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia;
cInstitut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), Institut Clinique de la Souris (ICS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)/Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale INSERM/UdS, Collège de France, BP 10142, Strasbourg, France;
dUnité Mixte de Recherches 7561, Center National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de Nancy, Faculté de Médecine, Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France; and
eCenter Hospitalier Universtaire de Nancy, H?pital Central (service d’orthopédie) 29 Avenue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny, 54000 Nancy, France

Interest in the development of new sources of transplantable materials for the treatment of injury or disease has led to the convergence of tissue engineering with stem cell technology. Bone and joint disorders are expected to benefit from this new technology because of the low self-regenerating capacity of bone matrix secreting cells. Herein, the differentiation of stem cells to bone cells using active multilayered capsules is presented. The capsules are composed of poly-L-glutamic acid and poly-L-lysine with active growth factors embedded into the multilayered film. The bone induction from these active capsules incubated with embryonic stem cells was demonstrated in vitro. Herein, we report the unique demonstration of a multilayered capsule-based delivery system for inducing bone formation in vivo. This strategy is an alternative approach for in vivo bone formation. Strategies using simple chemistry to control complex biological processes would be particularly powerful, as they make production of therapeutic materials simpler and more easily controlled.