Nanofibrous matrix of polycaprolactone embedded with zinc/vanadate doped hydroxyapatite: Mechanical and in vitro cellular growth

Abstract

The sequence of co-doped hydroxyapatite (HAP)/polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous composites was prepared with different amounts of zinc. X-ray diffraction and Infrared techniques were approved for both Zn/V-HAP and Zn/V-HAP@PCL composites formation. The morphological and mechanical behaviors were considered. The 0.8Zn/V-HAP composite offers the smallest grains almost with a slight appearance of aggregates, besides small shallow pores with a highly rough surface. Its grain size starts from 0.13 to 0.9 μm. On the other hand, zinc ions cause fiber size homogeneity and reduction that the 0.8Zn/V-HAP composite is sized from 1.1 to 1.75 μm. Zinc incorporation into HAP powder causes a significant rise in surface roughness. Moreover, tensile strength records its maximum value of 5.00 ± 0.32 MPa in 0.6Zn/V-HAP@PCL, while it declines for 0.8Zn/V-HAP@PCL to 4.94 ± 0.22 MPa. Additionally, the nanofibrous composite (0.0Zn/V-HAP@PCL) shows a contact angle of 100°±3, while the angle becomes narrower with increasing zinc content till reaching 83°±2 for the composition of 0.8 Zn/V-HAP@PCL scaffolds. Cell viability shows excellent potential in the absence of zinc with 92.4 ± 1%, while zinc contribution offers higher performance, reaching 98.4 ± 4% in 0.8Zn/V-HAP@PCL nanofiber. The scaffolds with the highest zinc content (0.8 Zn/V-HAP@PCL) record an inhibition zone of 22.1 ± 1.3 and 21.1 ± 1.1 mm against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. Regarding cell attachment, zinc addition and amounts introduce manipulating tools and significant improvement in proliferation potential upon the whole fiber. Thus the previous data is recommended these scaffolds for more research in biological applications.