Surface engineering of titania nanotubes incorporated with double-layered extracellular vesicles to modulate inflammation and osteogenesis

Abstract Titania nanotubes (TNT) generated on titanium implant are emerged as important modification technique to facilitate bone regeneration. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)-derived exosomes are membrane bound extracellular vesicles (EVs), which play an important role in tissue regeneration. The objective of this study was to generate an EVs hybrid TNT aiming at regulating inflammation, MSCs recruitment and osteogenesis. We isolated EVs from MSCs (MSCs EVs) and 3-day osteogenically differentiated MSCs (3d EVs). MSC EVs and 3d EVs exhibited round morphology under TEM, which also showed robust internalization by human bone marrow derived MSCs (hBMSCs). Next, we fabricated 3d EVs/MSC EVs hybrid TNT. When inflammatory macrophages were co-cultured with EVs hybrid TNT, the gene and protein expression of inflammatory cytokine were significantly reduced. Macrophage morphology was also examined by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Further migratory ability study using hBMSCs indicated significant enhancement of MSCs migration in EVs hybrid TNT. In addition, we further demonstrated significant increase of osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs in EVs hybrid TNT. This study suggests that EVs hybrid TNT may serve as a viable therapeutic approach to enhance osteogenesis and bone regeneration.