Osteocompatibility characterization of polyacrylonitrile carbon nanofibers containing bioactive glass nanoparticles

• Published in: Carbon (New York) 2013-05, Vol.56, p.288-295
• Main Authors: Yang, Q., Sui, G., Shi, Y.Z., Duan, S., Bao, J.Q., Cai, Q., Yang, X.P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical materials; Carbon fibers; Chemistry; Colloidal gels. Colloidal sols; Colloidal state and disperse state; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electrospinning; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Glass; In vitro testing; Materials science; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanofibers; Nanoparticles; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Physical and chemical studies. Granulometry. Electrokinetic phenomena; Physics; Precursors; Sol gel process
• ISSN: 0008-6223; 1873-3891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2013.01.014

A kind of composite carbon nanofibers (CNF) containing bioactive glass (BG) nanoparticles was produced for bone regeneration by a combination of electrospinning and sol–gel techniques. To produce the BG, compounds such as calcium nitrate, triethyl phosphate and tetraethyl orthosilicate were used as precursors and hydrolyzed to form a sol–gel solution, which was then added to a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution in N,N-dimethylformamide. The resulting mixture was electrospun to form PAN nanofibers containing the BG precursors. Upon oxidation and carbonization, the PAN nanofibers and BG precursors transformed into continuous CNF embedded with BG nanoparticles (CNF/BG). Through this fabrication technique, several CNF/BG composites were obtained by controlling the feeding ratios of the different precursors giving rise to BG nanoparticles with various compositions (i.e. containing 70–90mol% of SiO2 component). In vitro biomineralization in a simulated body fluid and co-culture with MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts studies were performed to evaluate the osteocompatibility of the CNF/BG nanoparticle composites. When compared to pure CNF, the CNF/BG composites showed an improved ability to promote the in vitro formation of apatite and MC3T3-E1 proliferation, which was found to be dependent upon the composition of BG nanoparticles.