Figure 6: ESW promoted both biological and biomechanical repair of bone defect.

(A) H&E stained sections 4 and 8 weeks post-implantation showed more newly formed bone in ESW scaffolds than in BMSC/PLGA without ESW treatment Immunohistochemistry of osteoblasts and mineralized sites 8 weeks post-implantation demonstrated that Osterix expression in newly formed bone had more and stronger signals within scaffolds, indicating more osteoblasts. New bone area was quantified 4 and 8 weeks post-implantation. In the ESW group, more newly formed bone was found in segmental defects compared with control groups. The ESW group had a larger area of newly formed bone. (B) Four-point bending biomechanical test was also performed to assess the properties of repaired bone tissues. ESW-treated artificial bone had stronger mechanical strength than the control group (P < 0.05 by unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test, n = 8).