Abstract
Although nanocomposites have recently attracted special interest in the tissue engineering area, due to their potential to reinforce scaffolds for hard tissues applications, a number of variables must be set prior to any clinical application. This manuscript addresses the evaluation of thermo-mechanical properties and of cell proliferation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) films and their bionanocomposites with 2 wt% of CNC obtained by casting technique. Cellulose nanocrystals extracted from Balsa wood by acid hydrolysis were used as a reinforcing phase in PBAT and PCL matrix films. The films and pure CNC at different concentrations were cultured with osteoblasts MG-63 and the cell proliferation was assessed by AlamarBlue® assay. The thermal-mechanical properties of the films were evaluated by dynamic-mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). It was found by DMTA that the CNC acted as reinforcing agent. The addition of CNCs in the PBAT and PCL matrices induced higher storage moduli due to the reinforcement effects of CNCs. The cell viability results showed that neat CNC favored osteoblast proliferation and both PBAT and PCL films incorporated with CNC were biocompatible and supported cell proliferation along time. The nature of the polymeric matrix or the presence of CNC practically did not affect the cell proliferation, confirming they have no in vitro toxicity. Such features make cellulose nanocrystals a suitable candidate for the reinforcement of biodegradable scaffolds for tissue engineering and biomedical applications.
Highlights
The use of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers for the repair or replacement of diseased or damaged tissues has attracted interest in the tissue engineering area [1,2]
We evaluated the thermo-mechanical properties and cell proliferation/viability of pure cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), PCL, and their bionanocomposites (PBAT and PCL incorporated with CNC), prior to their production as scaffolds for applications in tissue engineering
Dimension measurements showed average length (L) of 176 ±68 nm and diameter (D) of 7.5 ±2.9 nm of the cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), which resulted in a 25 aspect ratio (L/D)
Summary
The use of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers for the repair or replacement of diseased or damaged tissues has attracted interest in the tissue engineering area [1,2]. Some properties of PBAT and PCL as mechanical and thermal resistances must be improved for their application as biomaterials Such drawbacks could be overcome through the addition of nano-sized fillers, as shown in some studies [6,9,10,11,12]. The objective was to verify possible differences in rates of cell growth and/or cell viability caused by the CNC and resulting nanocomposites in comparison to pure PBAT and pure PCL As these nanocomposites with improved mechanical strength are interesting for further applications in bone tissue engineering, the cell proliferation was tested with osteoblast-like MG-63 cells, which have been extensively described in other studies [25,26]
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