Strontium-Substituted Submicrometer Bioactive Glasses Modulate Macrophage Responses for Improved Bone Regeneration

Host immune response induced by foreign bone biomaterials plays an important role in determining their fate after implantation. Hence, it is well worth designing advanced bone substitute materials with beneficial immunomodulatory properties to modulate the host–material interactions. Bioactive glasses (BG), with excellent osteoconductivity and osteoinductivity, are regarded as important biomaterials in the field of bone regeneration. In order to explore a novel BG-based osteoimmunomodulatory implant with the capacity of potentially enhancing bone regeneration, it is a possible way to regulate the local immune microenvironment through manipulating macrophage polarization. In this study, strontium-substituted submicrometer bioactive glass (Sr–SBG) was prepared as an osteoimmunomodulatory bone repair material. To investigate whether the incorporation of Sr into SBG could synergistically improve osteogenesis by altering macrophage response, we systematically evaluated the interaction between Sr–SBG and macrophage during the process of bone regeneration by in vitro biological evaluation and in vivo histological assessment. It was found that the Sr–SBG modulates proper inflammatory status, leading to enhanced osteogenesis of mouse mesenchymal stem cells (mMSCs) and suppressed osteoclastogenesis of RAW 264.7 cells compared to SBG without strontium substitution. In vivo study confirmed that Sr–SBG initiated a less severe immune response and had an improved effect on bone regeneration than SBG, which corresponded with the in vitro evaluation. In conclusion, these findings suggested that Sr–SBG could be a promising immunomodulatory bone repair material designed for improved bone regeneration.