Introduction

Use of scleral ossicles (OS) for bone regeneration in veterinary and health care. A naturally decellularized material, consisting of at least one scleral ossicle, is described for the regeneration of non-spontaneously-recovering bone lesions. A preparation procedure for the use of scleral ossicles-OS for bone regeneration, to be introduced in 3D scaffolds, is described.

Technical features

Scleral ossicles (OS) are particular quadrangular bone segments (dimensions 3mm x 4mm x150 µm) that are located at the sclero-corneal border of the eyeball of lower vertebrates; their purpose, once the final size is reached, is to protect the eyeball from deformations. Therefore, once formed, they must not undergo bone remodeling. Since bone remodeling is modulated by osteocytes – mature bone cellular elements – they (when the OS have reached their final size) go massively into apoptosis (programmed cell death); the OS are, therefore, naturally decellularized biomaterials. OS have angiogenic and osteogenic capacity and do not induce an adverse immune reaction when implanted in non-immune-depressed animals of different species. Therefore, the introduction of OS in 3D scaffolds would trigger an angiogenic and osteogenic reaction in the host bone to be repaired.

Possible Applications

• Induction of angio/osteogenesis to repair bone lesions that cannot be spontaneously healed;
• Introduction in 3D-scaffolds with adequate geometry to fill critical lesion volumes;
• For veterinary, medicine in farm animals for severe injuries;
• In medicine, for non-spontaneous recovery bone injuries.

Advantages

• Naturally decellularized;
• Waste – avian butcher’s shop;
• Usable in regenerative medicine without the aid of cell therapy;
• Integrable in 3D scaffold of various composition/geometry;
• Exploitable for veterinary/health applications.