Objectives: Treatment of critical-sized bone defects with cells and biomaterials offers an efficient alternative to traditional bone grafts. Chitosan (CS) is a natural biopolymer that acts as a scaffold in bone tissue engineering (BTE). Polyphosphate (PolyP), recently identified as an inorganic polymer, acts as a potential bone morphogenetic material, whereas pigeonite (Pg) is a novel iron-containing ceramic. In this study, we prepared and characterized scaffolds containing CS, calcium polyphosphate (CaPP) and Pg particles for bone formation in vitro and in vivo.

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In this paper, we report a simple approach for the fabrication of bone-like composite materials (BCMs) by blending chitosan (CTS), a natural polysaccharide, nano-hydroxyapatite as bone mineral, and polymethylmethacrylate-co-polyhydroxyethy lmethacrylate (PMMA-co-PHEMA) as bone cement. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were performed to determine the components of composites. Scanning electron microscopy study of composites revealed a well-dispersed flake-like structure with increasing content of PMMA-co-PHEMA. The water-uptake ability of the BCMs was also found to increase with increasing the PMMA-co-PHEMA content. Study of mechanical properties revealed that the Young's modulus and stiffness increased significantly after the addition of PMMA-co-PHEMA in BCMs compared with CTS-HAP blend. C