Small Intestine Submucosa Facilitates the Repair of Critical Size Calvarial Defects in Mice

Introduction Selecting an appropriate biomaterial for bone tissue engineering is critical for a successful outcome. Small intestine submucosa (SIS) is an acellular, naturally occurring collagenous extracellular matrix material derived from the submucosa of porcine small intestine, which contains bioactive molecules such as TGF-β and bFGF (1). While SIS has primarily been used for the repair of soft tissues, its potential as a bone graft scaffolding material is under investigation. Only a few studies have reported that SIS had a potential for bone regeneration (2, 3), and a recent report by Moore et al. suggests that SIS is not capable of inducing or conducting new bone formation across a critical size segmental bone defect (4). This study investigated the bone regenerative potential of single-layer SIS scaffolds seeded with human skeletal muscle-derived cells (hMDCs) that were then transplanted into critical size calvarial defects in mice. This study tested the osteogenic potential of the latter construct in response to a natural fracture environment.