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International Journal of Bioprinting Biomimetic scaffolds for mandibular repair

Figure 3. RNA sequencing analysis and qPCR reveal differential gene expression in the SIT scaffold influencing bone repair mechanisms. (A, B) Volcano
maps of TPMS scaffold (A) and SIT scaffold (B) versus control group. p <0.05, log2FC ≥1.5. (C) Intersection Venn diagram of differentially expressed genes
(DEGs) between TPMS and SIT scaffold groups. (D) Heat maps of DEGs for control, TPMS and SIT groups. (E–G) Heat maps of osteogenesis-related
genes, angiogenesis-related factors and FOS/JUN pathway genes expression after implanting the control, TPMS and SIT scaffolds, respectively, for 2 weeks
(red: high expression; blue: low expression). (H) RT-qPCR result of FOS. (I) RT-qPCR result of JUN. (J) RT-qPCR result of RUNX2. Abbreviations: T:
TPMS scaffolds; SIT: TPMS scaffolds loaded with SDF-1 and I-PRF.

the MAPK signaling pathway, FOS/JUN exhibited specific conducted an enrichment analysis. The GO enrichment
upregulation in the SIT scaffold group (Figure 3G). RT- analysis revealed that the genes with altered expression
qPCR confirmed the specific upregulation of FOS, JUN, in the SIT scaffold group are mainly involved in cellular
and RUNX2 in the SIT scaffold group (Figure 3H–J). macromolecule biosynthetic process, cell differentiation,
Shen et al. found that bioceramic scaffolds significantly animal organ development, etc. (Figure 4A). The KEGG
increased the expression of the osteogenic gene RUNX2 pathway enrichment analysis highlighted the AGE-RAGE
in BMSCs. Li et al. demonstrated that high expression signaling pathway and axon guidance, with the MAPK
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of VEGFA is associated with enhanced angiogenesis. signaling pathway exhibiting the largest difference (with
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Therefore, the observed upregulation of RUNX2 and the smallest p-value) compared to the control group (Figure
VEGFA in the SIT group is consistent with these findings, 4B). Furthermore, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA)
highlighting the effectiveness of our scaffold in supporting more directly demonstrated that the SIT scaffold not only
both angiogenesis and osteogenesis. exhibited significant differences in multiple pathways from
the control group but also obtained higher enrichment
To investigate the potential pathway mechanisms of scores compared to the TPMS group. This further validates
SIT and distinguish them from pure TPMS scaffolds, we the unique differences of the SIT scaffold group in the

Volume 10 Issue 5 (2024) 532 doi: 10.36922/ijb.4147