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| Home > OsteoScaf™ |
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| OsteoScaf™ is a bone substitute, or scaffold, which helps initiate the healing of bone defects and broken bones. It can be used alone, or as a delivery vehicle for bone healing cells. |
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| This scaffold is a product
of almost 10 years of research in both materials
and biological design. OsteoScaf™
is a unique, fully resorbable 3-phase biomaterial
which is used as a substitute for trabecular
bone grafts. No other scaffold technology
on the market approaches the interconnecting
macroporosity of OsteoScaf™. |
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| OsteoScaf™ is osteoconductive, anti-inflammatory, mechanically strong and can be combined with bone healing cells to further aid tissue repair. These characteristics make the OsteoScaf™ system unique in the fields of biomaterials and tissue engineering. |
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| The mechanical integrity of
OsteoScaf™ is vitally important
for two reasons. First, it enables easy handling
at the time of surgery. Second, it maintains
its architecture after cell seeding and the
invasion of host healing tissue. |
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| To date there is no equivalent polymer-based system that possesses all of the characteristics of our current OsteoScaf™ scaffold formulation thereby making this scaffold technology an important addition to the field. |
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| The macroporous open architecture
of OsteoScaf™ is a fundamental
design criterion. Biological repair can be
enhanced with the use of materials designed
specifically to provide an optimal surface
for host tissue interaction. With an open
pore structure to enable rapid tissue ingrowth
at the wound site, OsteoScaf™
proves useful in repairing bone. |
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| In keeping with our design
criteria of fabricating a completely resorbable
construct, we have demonstrated each of the
three component phases of the scaffold to
be biodegradable [The polymer degrades by
hydrolysis while the two calcium phosphate
phases are resorbed by osteoclasts, the cells
which resorb bone]. This is not possible in
competitive systems where dense ceramic hydroxyapatite
or bioactive glass particles are included. |
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| Whilst many groups have reported
that thin calcium phosphate coatings can accelerate
osseous healing, these findings have either
used metallic substrates such as titanium
and tantalum or polymeric substrates in vitro. |
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| To date we are the only group describing the in-vivo performance of thin film CaP coated polymeric composites. We provide the only evidence of a successful biodegradable, polymeric based system for use in bone engineering applications. |
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| No adverse inflammatory response
is recorded with the use of OsteoScaf™.
A widely appreciated phenomena pertaining
to in vivo performance of polyester
based materials is the propensity for generation
of a chronic inflammatory response. With our
surface coating of CaP on OsteoScaf™
we have completely eradicated a chronic inflammatory
response. |
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| Human Trabecular Bone |
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| OsteoScaf™ I |
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| OsteoScaf™ II with thin surface coating of CaP – Coating has been fractured to demonstrate thickness of layer ~ 3mm. This coating renders the scaffold osteoconductive, without having an effect on the macroporosity. |
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