Nicolaas Duneas

University of the Witwatersrand | wits · Department of Oral Medicine and Periodontology

A high-yield purification procedure for protein fractions derived from porcine bone matrix extracts is described, which has a high abundance of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). Naturally derived pBMP-2, ∼5 μg per kilogram of porcine bone matrix, was isolated by using a 300 kDa membrane before chromatographic processing on heparin affinity medi...

Vacuolated spherical kafirin microparticles with a mean diameter of 5 μm can be formed from an acidic solution with water addition. Three-dimensional scaffolds for hard tissue repair require large structures with a high degree of interconnected porosity. Cross-linking the formed kafirin microparticles using wet heat or glutaraldehyde treatment resu...

Demineralised bone matrix (DBM) is an allograft material widely used as a bone filler and bone graft substitute. DBM contains bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which induce and regulate bone formation during embryogenesis and in postnatal life. To investigate the osteoinductivity of DBM augmented with xenogeneic BMP-complex at different doses. Ra...

The therapeutic utility of a single application of recombinant human transforming growth factor-beta (hTGF-beta) has not been previously tested in large osseous wounds in primates. Sixteen calvarial defects, 25 mm in diameter, were prepared in four adult male baboons (Papio ursinus). In each animal, three defects were treated with increasing doses...

Certain members of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-ß) families are inducers of endochondral bone formation in vivo. TGF-ßs, however, do not initiate bone formation when implanted in heterotopic (extraskeletal) sites of rodents. Here we show that platelet-derived porcine TGF-ß1 (pTGF-ß1) induces endochondra...

Several members of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) families are molecular regulators of cartilage and bone regeneration, although their actual roles and combined interactions in skeletal repair are poorly understood. The presence of several molecular forms suggests multiple functions in vivo as we...

Recent advances in materials science and biotechnology have given birth to the new and exciting field of tissue engineering, in which the two normally disparate fields are merging into a profitable matrimony. In particular the use of biomaterials capable of initiating new bone formation via a process called osteoinduction is leading to quantum leap...