Fig. 3: The sp-EMS completely regenerates rat critical-sized noninfected calvarial defects in situ.
From: Self-promoted electroactive biomimetic mineralized scaffolds for bacteria-infected bone regeneration
a Schematic of the healing process of rat noninfected calvarial bone defects after the cell-free sp-EMS implantation. b (i) Representative μCT images of rat noninfected calvarial bones in the blank, MS, and sp-EMS groups after 12-week implantation. Yellow circles display defect boundary. (ii) Semiquantification of the bone volume and the ratio of new bone to total area in (i) (n = 5 rat critical-sized noninfected calvarial defects per group, by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test: ***P < 0.001 versus blank; ###P < 0.001 versus MS). c Representative μCT, HE and Masson’s trichrome staining images of the noninfected engineered bones in different groups after 12-week implantation. ST: soft tissue, NB: new bone, V: vessel, OB: osteoblasts. Yellow boxed areas show the defect areas. d Microcurrents generated on the surface of the MS and the sp-EMS in rat critical-sized noninfected calvarial defects on days 1, 3, 7, and 14. e Representative immunofluorescence images of CACNA2D1 (green) in defect areas after 2 weeks of implantation. f Representative immunohistochemical staining images of BMP2, OCN, VEGFR-1, and CD31 in newly formed calvaria areas after 8 weeks of implantation. All experiments were repeated independently at least three times. Data are presented as means ± SD. Source data and exact P values are provided in the Source Data file.
