Lycium‐Barbarum Polysaccharide‐Loaded Dual‐Crosslinked Rigid Hydrogel Enhances Bone Healing in Diabetic Bone Defects by Scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species

A novel hydrogel (HLBP) incorporating natural polysaccharides from goji berries is developed to enhance diabetic bone defect healing. The hydrogel efficiently scavenges ROS, improves osteogenic differentiation, and promotes in vivo bone regeneration. This strategy offers a biocompatible and localized approach, overcoming the challenges of traditional drug delivery in diabetic bone repair.

Abstract

Diabetes-induced oxidative stress can lead to poor bone defect healing, severely affecting the quality of life for patients. Studies show that improving the microenvironment and promoting bone formation can effectively accelerate the healing of bone defects. However, traditional local drug delivery methods face various challenges during the treatment process. Therefore, this study develops a novel hydrogel (HLBP) loaded with natural protein polysaccharides (LBP) extracted from goji berries, aiming to enhance the healing of diabetic bone defects. The hydrogel is composed of freeze-dried polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and photocrosslinked poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA). This hydrogel exhibits excellent biocompatibility. Additionally, it demonstrates effective loading capacity for the LBP. LBP's bioactivity enables ROS scavenging and promotes bone regeneration at defect sites. In vitro, experimental results show that HLBP significantly reduces ROS levels and enhances osteogenic differentiation ability and cell viability of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. In vivo studies using BKS-db diabetic mice show that HLBP implantation at bone defects achieves over 80% healing, highlighting its strong healing potential. This method effectively avoids potential toxicity from systemic drug administration and significantly promotes regeneration at the bone defect site, providing a new strategy for treating diabetic bone defects.