engleski

Biocomposite scaffold of PCL and hydroxyapatite derived from cuttlefish bone

The successful synthesis of a scaffold as 3D environment with particular mechanical properties, surface chemistries, porous morphology for cell invasion and angiogenesis is a major challenge in the field of bone tissue engineering (BTE)1. We present a new scaffold designed from highly porous hydroxyapatite (HA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) that preserves the natural structure of cuttlefish bone with potential use in BTE. First, complete hydrothermal conversion of original aragonite (CaCO3) from cuttlefish bone into pure HA was achieved. Then, the pore walls were impregnated with a 20 wt. % PCL solution. Scaffold was characterized by XRD, TGA, FTIR, SEM and compression tests. Distribution and viability of MC3T3-E1 cells was assessed using live/dead staining, while cell proliferation and differentiation were quantified by DNA and ALP activity respectively. The biocomposite maintained the original highly porous micro-architecture of the cuttlefish bone (Fig.1a). The elastic modulus increased from 0.7 MPa for pure HA to 15.5 MPa for the biocomposite scaffold containing ~40 wt.% of PCL. Live/dead assay showed that cells are viable and penetrate into the pores of the scaffolds (Fig.1b). Increase of ALP activity up to 14 days suggests differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells while the observed decrease after 21 days may be ascribed to cell maturation2 (Fig.2.). DNA values demonstrated significant cellular proliferation with the culture time and fluorescence observation of cells after 21 days showed complete migration of cells into the porous structure. Fig.1. (a) SEM micrography of the biocomposite scaffold and (b) live/dead cells were stained in green and red respectively using viability/cytotoxicity assay performed after 10 days of culturing. Fig.2.ALP activity measured after 3, 7, 14 and 21 days of cultivation. A novel HA/PCL scaffold with enhanced mechanical properties that preserves the natural porous structure of cuttlefish bone has been developed. It stimulates cell migration, proliferation and differentiation being a good candidate for bone regeneration. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Financial support from the Spanish Ministry project DPI2010-20399-C04-03 and the Croatian Ministry project No.125-1252970-3005 is thanked. Refs.: 1. Kim B.S. et al., J Biomed Res Part A (2012) 00A:000-000 2.Chen Y. et al., Journal of Nanomaterials, Vol. 2012 (2012) doi:10.1155/2012/401084

scaffold; hydroxyapatite; polycaprolactone

nije evidentirano