Biomimetic gelatin/chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol/nano-hydroxyapatite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

• Published in: Materials & design 2021-09, Vol.207, p.109865, Article 109865
• Main Authors: Ma, Pengfei, Wu, Wenjing, Wei, Yu, Ren, Le, Lin, Shuxian, Wu, Junhua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomimetic scaffolds; Bone tissue engineering; Chitosan; Gelatin; Nano-hydroxyapatite; Polyvinyl alcohol
• ISSN: 0264-1275; 1873-4197
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2021.109865

[Display omitted] •A biomimetic gelatin/chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol/nano-hydroxyapatite scaffold was synthesized.•The effect of polyvinyl alcohol contents on the composite scaffolds was evaluated.•The composite scaffolds showed positive effects on osteogenic differentiation.•The composite scaffolds could mimic the structure and function of natural bone. Multi-component bone tissue engineering scaffolds are the dominant trend to address complex requirements of bone defect repair. In this study, to mimic component and microstructure of natural bone, polymers (natural and synthetic) and nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp) were fabricated to form a porous composite scaffold. Gelatin (Gel), chitosan (CS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were first assembled to simulate extracellular matrix. The simulated matrix exhibited tunable pore size, porosity, swelling, pH, degradation and mechanical strength. After the incorporation of nHAp, the composite scaffolds showed improved compression resistance, pH adaptability, improved surface bioactivity and biomimetic structure. In addition, the composite scaffolds can effectively promote cell proliferation and adhesion, of which, scaffolds containing 12.5% of nHAp were demonstrated to have high osteogenic differentiation ability. Hence, these results suggest that Gel/CS/PVA/nHAp composite scaffolds could be a promising biomimetic scaffold for bone tissue engineering.