Chiral Tartaric Acid Improves Fracture Toughness of Bioactive Brushite–Collagen Bone Cements

Abstract

Brushite cements are promising bone regeneration materials with limited biological and mechanical properties. Here, we engineer a mechanically improved brushite–collagen type I cement with enhanced biological properties by use of chiral chemistry; d - and l -tartaric acid were used to limit crystal growth and increase the mechanical properties of brushite–collagen cements. The impact of the chiral molecules on the cements was examined with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A 3-point bend test was utilized to study the fracture toughness, and cell attachment and morphology studies were carried out to demonstrate biocompatibility. XRD and SEM analyses showed that l -, but not d -tartaric acid, significantly restrained brushite crystal growth by binding to the {010} plane of the mineral and increased brushite crystal packing and the collagen interaction area. l -Tartaric acid significantly improved fracture toughness compared to traditional brushite by 30%. Collagen significantly enhanced cell morphology and focal adhesion expression on l -tartaric acid-treated brushite cements.

Osteogenic Response of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Analysed Using Combined Intracellular and Extracellular Metabolomic Monitoring

“…(R, R)-tartaric acid is an organic acid involved in glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism (KEGG PATHWAY: map00630), which links to ascorbate and aldarate metabolism (KEGG PATHWAY: map00053). Recent studies reported the effect of L-tartaric acid on the improvement bone cement mechanical toughness [55], pointing to a possible usefulness for bone applications.…”

In situ mineralized PLGA/zwitterionic hydrogel composite scaffold enables high-efficiency rhBMP-2 release for critical-sized bone healing

“…Template-driven biomineralization regulated by the extracellular matrix to obtain highly integrated composites scaffolds has attracted great attention during the past two decades. 38,49 So far, there are several biomineralization strategies to incorporate CaP into biopolymer-based 50–52 or synthetic polymers-based 53–56 scaffolds, such as incubation with simulated body fluid (SBF), 57,58 in situ precipitation 48,59,60 or template-driven mineralization. 61 Urea-mediated solution mineralization is a high-efficiency approach for preparing mineralized scaffolds; however, it starts at low pH (2–3) and ends at high temperature (about 80 °C) 39 so this method cannot be applied to the PLGA/PSBMA scaffolds because PLGA is an acid-triggered hydrolysable material with a glass transition temperature of around 32 °C.…”