Fig. 1
From: Advanced smart biomaterials and constructs for hard tissue engineering and regeneration
Smart immunomodulatory microspheres (NHG-MS) accelerated bone regeneration in diabetes mellitus (DM). µ-CT at 4 weeks confirmed that bone regeneration was impaired by diabetes. However, IL4-loaded NHG-MS restored the bone regeneration to the healthy non-diabetic level. The defect was filled with new bone in the healthy non-diabetic control (a, b) and the IL4-loaded NHG-MS DM (g, h). In contrast, only half of the defect was filled with new bone in the DM (c, d) and DM + NHG-MS (e, f). i The ratio of bone volume to total volume (BV/TV) of the non-diabetic group was twice that of the DM group. IL4-loaded NHG-MS in DM rats increased the BV/TV ratio to 0.44, twofold that of the NHG-MS group (0.23). (**P < 0.01). (Adapted from ref. 34, with permission.)
