Design and characterization of biphasic ferric hydroxyapatite-zincite nanoassembly for bone tissue engineering

Abstract

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is one of the most studied biomaterials for orthopaedic applications, yet its commercialization holds in a few of the lags, such as non-antibacterial activity and target deficiency. In this context, we aimed to design a biphasic nanoassembly of Ferric-HAp-Zincite (ZFHAp) via a one-step co-precipitation method. Ferric-HAp obtained Ca9·333Fe1·167(PO4)7 phase in all the samples, and the secondary phases such as Ca9Fe(PO4)7 and Ca28·8Fe3·2(PO4)21O0.5 were governed by the Fe dopant concentration. Along with ferric-HAp, zincite phases were present in all the samples depending on the concentration of Zn precursor. The synthesized ZFHAp samples were hexagonal in structure with size <100 nm, and a dual morphology, i.e., rod-shaped (77.8 ± 10 nm; major corresponding to HAp) and particulate shaped (30.9 ± 5 nm; minor due to Zincite). Doping of iron imparted paramagnetism resulting in the magnetic target efficiency. ZFHAp samples showed excellent self-antibacterial activity against clinically significant two Gram-positive (E. hirae, S. aureus) and two Gram-negative (E. coli, S. paratyphi) bacteria with lower MIC values (60–80 μg/ml). The antibacterial mechanism was found to be ROS independent and due to the linear release of Zn2+ and Fe3+ ions. The designed ZFHAp samples showed no cytotoxicity up to 5 mg/mL and exhibited 3 times higher bone cell proliferation along with the significant Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) activity. The prepared nanomaterials also did not show any inflammatory response to bone cells. These findings entitle ZFHAp as a potential candidate for orthopaedic as well as other biomedical applications subject to further clinical trials.