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Abstract
Periodontal disease that involves the deterioration of tooth supporting structures is the primary cause of tooth loss among adults. Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) technique is a commonly used surgical procedure for the treatment of periodontal diseases by using a barrier membrane. Natural eggshell membrane (ESM) is a semi-permeable membrane consisting of two individual layers with fibrous meshwork structures. With the aid of successful preparation of soluble eggshell membrane proteins (SEP) from natural ESM in the previous study, we hypothesized that one new type of biomimetic nanofibrous eggshell membrane could be successfully constructed by sequential electrospinning method. This proposed membrane is composed of two interconnected nanofibrous layers with different density and porosity which can mimic the composition, morphology and structure of natural ESM. It is expected to greatly enhance the periodontal tissue regeneration as well as physically maintain the space for tissue repair, thus to be a promising and cost-effective GTR membrane candidate.
Keywords
Soluble eggshell membrane proteins, Electrospinnin, Guided tissue regeneration
Introduction
Periodontal disease and guided tissue regenera-tion (GTR)
Periodontal disease is a major oral health prob-lem all over the world, affecting 5-15 percent of human populations. It is also the leading cause of tooth loss among adults. However, regeneration of the damaged periodontal tissue and supporting bone still remains a serious concern to be resolved. GTR technique is a widely-used surgical approach for periodontal tissue regeneration, which can prevent the migration of the faster growing gingival epithe-lial cells and connective tissues into the damaged area by using a space-maintaining barrier membrane in order to allow enough time for the migration, proliferation and mature of periodontal ligament and bone cells (1). In the past decades, a variety of GTR membranes have been developed which can be non-resorbable and bioresorbable. Non-resorbable membranes such as expanded polytetrafluoroeth-ylene (e-PTFE) have a favorable space-maintaining ability and better mechanical strength, although another surgical procedure is required for their removal (2). Therefore, bioresorbable GTR mem-branes have been increasingly used, which are mainly made from natural biopolymers like collagen and from synthetic polymers such as poly lactic acid (PLA). Collagen membrane has optimal biocompat-ibility and cell affinity, although it is generally criticized on compromised mechanical property, unpredictable degradation rate, higher cost and technological complexity of the manufacturing process (3,4)....