Development of porous chitosan-gelatin/hydroxyapatite composite scaffolds for hard tissue-engineering applications

Abstract

Composite scaffolds prepared from natural polymers and hydroxyapatite (HA) are expected to have enhanced osteoconductive properties and as a result gained much attention in recent years for use in bone tissue-engineering applications. Although there are various natural polymers available for this purpose, chitosan (C) and gelatin (G) are commonly studied because of their inherent properties. The aim of this study was to prepare three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds using these two natural polymers and to add either non-sintered hydroxyapatite (nsHA) or sintered hydroxyapatite (sHA) to compare their influence on physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the scaffolds and on their affinities towards Saos-2 cells. For this purpose, nsHA and sHA were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and particle size analyses. Then nsHA and sHA particles, with average sizes of 16 µm and 6 µm, respectively, were added to the solutions of C and G during the preparation step and the resultant 3D scaffolds were characterized. Compression tests indicated that presence of nsHA or sHA increased the Young's modulus and compressive strength of the scaffolds, and the values were very similar to those of human spongy bone. MTS assays, confocal microscopy and SEM analysis showed that cell attachment and proliferation were higher on C-G/sHA composite scaffolds compared to the other scaffolds. It was shown that the scaffolds prepared from chitosan, gelatin and HA are appropriate cell carriers for bone tissue engineering, especially those with sHA incorporated.

Development of porous Ti6Al4V/chitosan sponge composite scaffold for orthopedic applications

“…The scaffold for bone regeneration should have adequate mechanical strength so as to transfer the applied load at the implant site. Many studies have attempted to improve the mechanical strength of chitosan sponge by incorporating bioceramics such as hydroxyapatite and β-tricalcium phosphate [6][7][8]. Unfortunately, the reinforced mechanical properties of chitosan/ bioceramics composite scaffolds reveal insufficient elastic stiffness and compressive strength compared to human bone.…”

Hydroxyapatite nanoparticle injectable hydrogel scaffold to support osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells

“…However, bioactivity of hydrogels can be improved by the addition of ceramic phases, such as hydroxyapatite (HAP), which is the inorganic component of bone and constitutes 60 % of native bone ECM (Weiner and Traub, 1992). Synthetic HAP: (CA 10 (PO 4 )(OH) 2 ), has been extensively studied as a supplementary addition to hydrogel scaffolds for bone regeneration, it has been shown to hold significant osteoconductive properties (Dhivya et al, 2015;Isikli et al, 2012;Na et al, 2007, Venugopal et al, 2010Zhao et al, 2006) and is commonly used for coating of prosthetic joints to aid bone fixation (Furlong and Osborn, 1991;Nilsson et al, 1999). Furthermore, dispersed mineral within biomaterial scaffolds has been shown to enhance mechanical properties (Sinha et al, 2007), provide nucleation sites for further HAP deposition, as well as providing critical cellular anchoring points, which not only enable integration with surrounding bone tissue, but have also been shown to regulate the fate of cellular differentiation Rea et al, 2004;Trappmann et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2006).…”

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“…6 Removable medical supplies, prosthesis, dental related problems, implants, devices used for blood purification such as haemodialysis, hemofiltration, drug delivery systems using polymers, products from tissue engineering, and bone related problems are some of the areas using synthetic polymeric materials. They can be easily manufactured in variety of shapes, processed, require less cost,, easily available, these are some of the main advantage of polymeric biomaterials.…”