ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovations in Immunometabolic Treatment and Controlled Release Systems for Bone and Joint DisordersView all 15 articles
Bone-Targeted Mitochondrial Delivery via Magnetic-Temperature Responsive Artificial Cells for Repairing Age-Related Fractures
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xijing Hospital, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an, China
- 2Xijing Digestive Disease Hospital Fourth Military Medical University State Key Laboratory of Holistic Management of Gastrointestinal Cancer, Xi'an, China
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Age-related bone diseases, such as osteoporosis and degenerative joint disorders, pose a significant global health challenge, affecting more than 200 million people and leading to over 9 million fractures annually, which not only diminishes quality of life but also imposes a substantial socioeconomic burden on healthcare systems. A major clinical obstacle in the aging population is the significantly reduced regenerative capacity of bone, often resulting in delayed fracture healing or nonunion fractures. Mitochondria, as the central regulators of cellular energy metabolism, are essential for determining cell fate and supporting tissue regeneration. However, age-associated mitochondrial dysfunction critically impairs these processes. The transplantation of healthy mitochondria has recently emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for restoring cellular bioenergetics and function. Yet, its efficacy is greatly limited by two key challenges: the poor targeting efficiency of mitochondria in systemic circulation and their inherent fragility, which makes them highly vulnerable to degradation. We herein developed a novel thermomagnetic dual-response targeted delivery system wherein functional mitochondria from young donors are encapsulated within GelMA-based artificial cells (Fmito@ACs). Our findings demonstrate that Fmito@ACs significantly enhance fracture repair in aged mice by mitigating hallmark features of cellular senescence, including impaired energy metabolism, increased inflammation in the bone marrow microenvironment, and reduced resistance to hypoxic stress. Overall, this study created Fmito@ACs and provides a theoretical foundation for therapeutic intervention in age-related bone regeneration.
Keywords: Age-related fractures, Artificial Cells, anti-aging, Mitochondria, Magnetic-temperatureresponsive
Received: 15 Oct 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Nie, Li, Yan, Liu, Du, Luo and yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jinghui Huang, huangjh@fmmu.edu.cn
Shengyou Li, lisy0207@126.com
Zhuojing Luo, zjluo@fmmu.edu.cn
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