Copper substituted hydroxyapatite reinforced gelatin/polyvinyl alcohol/silk fibre-based scaffold for bone tissue engineering application

Abstract

In order to restore the function of the damaged tissues, it is essential to find suitable ways which are capable of customizing tissue engineering constructs for each patient. The present study presents the hydrothermal synthesis of copper hydroxyapatite (Cu-HAP), as well as the electrospinning fabrication of gelatin/PVA/silk fibre-Cu-HAP scaffolds. The fabricated scaffold was characterized using XRD, FT-IR, SEM-EDAX in order to confirm the phase formation, functional group, surface topography and elemental composition respectively. The gelatin-PVA-silk fibre with 60 wt % Cu-HAP showed highest porosity (99 %) and highest mechanical strength (96. 13 MPa). To fulfil the requirements of bone tissue engineering the biological application such as antimicrobial activity, hemocompatibility, bioactivity and cell-line studies were carried out. Gelatin/PVA/silk fibre with 60 wt % Cu-HAP scaffold showed excellent zone of inhibition (E. coli - 75 ± 1.38 mm, S. aureus - 65 ± 1.40 mm, C. albicans - 68 ± 1.26 mm), good hemocompatibility (1.20 ± 0.06) with human blood and surface was uniformly covered with HAP in bioactivity studies. That the fabricated gelatin-PVA-silk fibre/Cu-HAP could be effective and suitable as a bone graft material.