Research Projects

In normal physiological conditions, bone tissue homeostasis is regulated through the bone remodelling process by the bone resorption and formation, in which osteoclasts and osteoblasts play a predominant role in signal transduction via enzymes to promote the production of bone morphogenic proteins (BMP) and transforming growth factor (TGF-β) to promote the bone formation. A severe bone loss was observed in astronauts in space, and the microgravity-assisted bone remodelling was not well defined in existing literature due to the rarity of space missions and the limited number of astronauts. Studies on bone remodelling in a stimulated microgravity environment (SME) conditions resulted in bone homeostasis changes from ROS generation, increased expression of bone resorption markers, and decreased bone mineral content that can promote osteoporotic bone fractures. In general, these osteoporotic conditions were treated by injecting commercially available drugs and antioxidants subcutaneously; however, this procedure was ineffective in the microgravity environment due to the degradation and severe chronic side effects to the astronauts. Biopolymer-based nanoformulations were used as drug delivery vehicles to improve the solubility, degradability, and blood-retention time of drugs and antioxidants in the microgravity environment. However, the long-term usage of these biopolymer-based nanoformulations was limited due to the degradation of the polymeric structure via direct and indirect radiation in space. Considering the research gap, the current proposal focuses on developing a highly biocompatible and stable drug delivery vehicle for effective recovery of the bone in the microgravity environment. In this study, we plan to design a nanogel composed of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) loaded nanohydroxyapatite (nHAP) and antioxidants loaded carboxymethyl nanocellulose (CMNC) to improve osteogenesis in a 3D cell culture model. nHAP has a strong affinity to the native bone tissues, which will improve the bone regeneration, and PRP promotes osteogenesis. Additionally, the nanogel reinforced with antioxidants increases the radical scavenging effect in osteoporotic bone to reduce the ROS generation. Initially, the nanogels will be assessed using a traditional 2D cell culture environment, and then all the evaluations will be done in 3D cell spheroids in an SME. Therefore, this study demonstrates effective release of biomolecules from nanogel, resulting in osteoinduction properties of the 3D cell spheroids, which will be beneficial for future studies.