Amine-functionalized Single-walled Carbon Nanotube/Polycaprolactone Electrospun Scaffold for Bone Tissue Engineering: in vitro Study

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are beneficent candidates for bone tissue engineering (BTE) applications, mostly because of their superior mechanical properties. Although the previous studies confirmed that single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have significant effect on biomedical applications but there is no study reported the effect of SWNTs on properties of the PCL scaffolds for BTE applications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of aminefunctionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (aSWNTs) on mechanical properties and in vitro behavior of Polycaprolacton (PCL) scaffolds. PCL as a biocompatible polymeric matrix was composited with different amounts (ranging from 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 wt.%) of aSWNTs to enhance structural and functional properties of electrospun scaffolds. Attachment, proliferation, differentiation of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs) seeded onto the scaffolds was analyzed. The morphology and mechanical properties of the scaffolds were characterized using SEM and tensile test. The results indicated that the addition of aSWNTs heightened the tensile strength while bioactivity and degradation rate were increased. Also, the addition of aSWNTs has significantly amplified the electrical conductivity of PCL solution and resulted in the thinner fibers with more uniform size distribution. Attachment, proliferation and differentiation of rMSCs were significantly improved. Although the best mechanical property was achieved in the scaffold with 0.2 wt% aSWNT, but the composite scaffold with 0.5 wt% aSWNT significantly shows superior proliferation and differentiation of the rMSCs. Alkaline phosphatase activity demonstrated elevated differentiation of cells on nanocomposite scaffolds.