Abstract
For successful bone tissue engineering, a scaffold needs to be osteoconductive, porous, and biodegradable, thus able to support attachment and proliferation of bone cells and guide bone formation. Recently, hydroxyapatites (HA), a major inorganic component of natural bone, and biodegrade polymers have drawn much attention as bone scaffolds. The present study was designed to investigate whether the bone regenerative properties of nano-HA/polycaprolactone (PCL) spiral scaffolds are augmented in an HA dose dependent manner, thereby establishing a suitable composition as a bone formation material. Nano-HA/PCL spiral scaffolds were prepared with different weight ratios of HA and PCL, while porosity was introduced by a modified salt leaching technique. Human fetal osteoblasts (hFOBs) were cultured on the nano-HA/PCL spiral scaffolds up to 14 days. Cellular responses in terms of cell adhesion, viability, proliferation, differentiation, and the expression of bone-related genes were investigated. These scaffolds supported hFOBs adhesion, viability and proliferation. Cell proliferation trend was quite similar on polymer-ceramic and neat polymer spiral scaffolds on days 1, 7, and 14. However, the significantly increased amount of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and mineralized matrix synthesis was evident on the nano-HA/PCL spiral scaffolds. The HA composition in the scaffolds showed a significant effect on ALP and mineralization. Bone phenotypic markers such as bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteonectin (ON), osteocalcin (OC), and type I collagen (Col-1) were semi-quantitatively estimated by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis. All of these results suggested the osteoconductive characteristics of HA/PCL nanocomposite and cell maturation were HA dose dependent. For instance, HA∶PCL = 1∶4 group showed significantly higher ALP mineralization and elevated levels of BSP, ON, OC and Col-I expression as compared other lower or higher ceramic ratios. Amongst the different nano-HA/PCL spiral scaffolds, the 1∶4 weight ratio of HA and PCL is shown to be the most optimal composition for bone tissue regeneration.
Highlights
Bone defects caused by trauma, tumor resection, pathological degeneration, or congenital deformity are one of the majors clinical challenges in orthopedic treatments [1]
The significantly increased amount of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and mineralized matrix synthesis was evident on the nano-HA/PCL spiral scaffolds
The porous nano-HA/PCL spiral scaffolds with different weight ratio of HA and PCL were fabricated by a modified salt leaching technique
Summary
Bone defects caused by trauma, tumor resection, pathological degeneration, or congenital deformity are one of the majors clinical challenges in orthopedic treatments [1]. Autologous bone grafts remains the gold standard in the treatment of bone defects [5,6]. Significant issues of autografts such as the need for two surgical procedures for harvesting and implantation, limited supply, and donor site morbidity [7]. Alternatives to autografts, suffer from drawbacks such as costexpensive, disease transmission, and adverse host immune reaction [4]. These significant caveats have increased the need for synthetic bone graft substitutes to repair bone defects
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