A new article published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry. B. discussed that critical-sized bone defects caused by trauma, tumor resection or serious infection represent one of the most challenging problems faced by orthopedic surgeons; the construction of bone grafts with good osteointegration and osteoinductivity remains a clinical challenge. The authors elaborated that the nail bed tissue is an essential element for digit-tip regeneration suggesting that the nail bed may serve as a new material to manipulate bone regeneration.

It was observed that the human nail bed extracellular matrix derived from amputated patients stimulates macrophage polarization toward a pro-healing phenotype and the expression of BMP2 – to facilitate the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), in vitro. The in-depth analyses of immune responses revealed that macrophage polarization toward the pro-regenerative M2 phenotype directs osteogenesis, as confirmed by macrophage depletion. A combination of proteomics analysis and RNA interference verified that the JAK2/STAT3 pathway is the positive regulator of macrophage polarization initiated by the decellularized nail bed during the promoted osteogenesis process.

Therefore, it was stated that the decellularized human nail bed scaffold is a promising biomaterial for bone regeneration.

Source: Journal of Materials Chemistry. B. 2020 Apr 3. doi: 10.1039/c9tb02910a.