Scientists have developed a nanomaterial that leverages the body’s own healing process to stimulate new bone growth. So far tested in rats, the material is biocompatible and generates a microenvironment that is conducive for regenerative growth (ACS Nano 2026, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6c05126).
The research team designed the material, a calcium-aluminosilicate dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticle (CaAl-DMSN), which serves as a catalyst precipitating bone growth, says Chun Xu, a biomedical engineer at the University of Sydney and the study’s first author. “Inside our body, the growth factor TGF-β1 [transforming growth factor β1] is in an inactive form . . . and our body has a mechanism to activate that. Our material mimics that process.”
CaAl-DMSN stimulates growth factors that attract bone-forming stem cells to the defect site. This material could theoretically enable a cleft-correcting procedure much earlier for children born with cleft lip or cleft palate; they typically must wait a decade or so to be able to get bone grafts to heal the gaps in their jawbone.
The nanomaterial’s chemical composition creates a localized alkaline microenvironment, which helps activate TGF-β1. The protein then triggers the body’s complex healing process—starting with rapidly attracting bone-forming stem cells to the area and stimulating new bone growth. The calcium in the biomaterial supports mineral deposition and bone growth–related signaling, while silicon provides ionic cues that encourage bone matrix formation.
In addition, the dendritic and mesoporous structure of the material provides a large surface area and plenty of active catalyst sites. It also facilitates rapid clot formation. In their experiments in rats, the researchers observed about 80% more new bone after 8 weeks compared with the control.
Using pH to activate a growth factor is not novel, Xu says, and some high-pH hydrogels have been used for the same purpose. “The problem is it can cause toxicity, [and] the efficiency is not high,” he says. “In our case, the high pH is only limited to a very small area, only on the surface of nanoparticles.” This limits toxicity. The activation efficiency is also much higher than that of the hydrogels.
The researchers believe their nanomaterial is promising for bone repair and regeneration, as well as for traumatic injuries, tooth loss, and other tricky bone defects.
Karina Wright, an orthopedic and tissue engineering professor at Keele University who wasn’t involved with the research, says this method has potential for clinical translation. But she says researchers will need to demonstrate safety, and then efficacy, in preclinical and early-phase human studies.
Xu agrees that it’s a long road to translation. “We also need to check the immune response in more detail,” he says, “and investigate how the material works inside the body.”
Mukesh Dhanka, a biomedical engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar who wasn’t part of the study team, finds the research novel in terms of design and composition. But he is hesitant about the potential for translation given that “commercially available systems, such as nano-hydroxyapatite-based [ones] and TGF-β-collagen scaffolds have already received regulatory approval for relevant applications.” A comparison with those systems in the paper would have helped, Dhanka says.
