Progress in orthopaedic application of magnesium-containing implant materials

Recently, the Qinling team, a professor at the Translational Medicine Research and Development Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong / Shenzhen Advanced Technology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the RegisO'Keefe team of Washington University in St. Louis jointly published a research paper entitled Magnesium Facilitates the Healing of Atypical Femoral Fractures: A Single-cell Transcriptomic Study on Material Today. The study was reported on Research Highlights by Science magazine on the topic of Improved healing of rare fractures on Feb. 17.

This study used a variety of research methods, including single cell sequencing, to explain the cellular and molecular mechanisms of bisphosphate (BPs) in the treatment of atypical femoral fracture (AFF). After the rat fracture model was established by OVX operation and treated with BPs, it was found that the expression of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) decreased in the process of BPs promoting fracture healing, accompanied by the adverse effect of abnormal differentiation of stem cells / bone precursors. Further experiments found that local supplement of CGRP can effectively promote fracture healing. To this end, the team invented a new type of magnesium-loaded intramedullary needle (Mg-IMN), whose effect is similar to that of local injection of CGRP.

The results show that while fixing AFF, Mg-IMN can promote the expression of CGRP in fracture site, avoid the adverse effects on stem cell differentiation caused by long-term use of BPs, reduce fracture end fibrosis, and more effectively promote the healing of AFF in rats. In addition, Mg-IMN may also maintain the "vascular-bone" coupling by promoting the expression of H-type vessels. This study validates that CGRP and magnesium metal implant materials can reduce the internal fibrosis of callus, and reveals the clinical application prospect of Mg-IMN in AFF.