Regeneration of full-thickness abdominal wall defects in rats using collagen scaffolds loaded with collagen-binding basic fibroblast growth factor

Biomaterials are increasingly used in the repair of tissue defects The aim of the present study was to evaluate a new composite biomaterial for reconstruction of a 2 x 2 5 cm full-thickness abdominal wall defect In this study the collagen membrane was activated with the engineered human basic fibroblast growth factor ( bFGF) To enhance the binding of bFGF to collagen membranes a specific peptide of collagen-binding domain (CBD) was fused to the N-terminal of bFGF After implantation little adhesion was caused in collagen/CBD-bFGF collagen/NAT-bFGF and collagen/PBS groups Moreover collagen/CBD-bFGF group could effectively promote the vascularization at 30 d after surgery and significantly accelerate the integration of myofibers Into the collagen material at 90 d after surgery compared to the other two groups Due to the replacement of the myofibers in materials the mechanical strength of Implanted biomaterials in collagen/CBD-bFGF group was also greater than the other two groups at 90 d after surgery Thus the collagen/CBD-bFGF composite biomaterial was promising for the treatment of full-thickness abdominal wall defect (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved