Decellularized Periosteum‐Covered Chitosan Globule Composite for Bone Regeneration in Rabbit Femur Condyle Bone Defects

Critical‐sized bone defects are incapable of self‐healing and are commonly seen in clinical practice. The authors explore a new treatment for this, decellularized periosteum is applied to chitosan globules (chitosan‐DP globules) as a hybrid material. The efficacy of chitosan‐DP globules on rabbit femoral condyle bone defects is assessed with biocompatibility, biomechanics, and osteogenic efficiency measurements, and compared with the results of chitosan globules and empty control. No difference in cytotoxicity is observed among chitosan‐DP globules, chitosan globules, and the empty control. Chitosan‐DP globules possesse a better surface for cell adhesion than did chitosan globules. Chitosan‐DP globules demonstrate superior efficiency for osteogenesis in the defect area compared to chitosan globules as per microcomputed tomography examination and push‐out testing, with relatively minor histological differences. Both chitosan globule groups show more satisfactory results than those for the empty control. The results implicate chitosan‐DP globules as a promising solution for bone defects. The authors investigate herein whether decellularized periosteum possesses the osteogenic activity in bone defect. For this purpose, the authors select chitosan as the carrier and shape them into 2 mm globules with and without decellular periosteum powder on their surface. The globules are filled into rabbit femur condyles' critical‐sized bone defects for at most 12 weeks before studying its biocompatibility, biomechanics, and osteogenic efficiency.