Abstract
We aimed to develop an alginate hydrogel (AH) modified with nano-/microfibers of titanium dioxide (nfTD) and hydroxyapatite (nfHY) and evaluated its biological and chemical properties. Nano-/microfibers of nfTD and nfHY were combined with AH, and its chemical properties were evaluated by FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-Ray analysis, and the cytocompatibility by the WST-1 assay. The results demonstrate that the association of nfTD and nfHY nano-/microfibers to AH did not modified the chemical characteristics of the scaffold and that the association was not cytotoxic. In the first 3 h of culture with NIH/3T3 cells nfHY AH scaffolds showed a slight increase in cell viability when compared to AH alone or associated with nfTD. However, an increase in cell viability was observed in 24 h when nfTD was associated with AH scaffold. In conclusion our study demonstrates that the combination of nfHY and nfTD nano-/microfibers in AH scaffold maintains the chemical characteristics of alginate and that this association is cytocompatible. Additionally the combination of nfHY with AH favored cell viability in a short term, and the addition of nfTD increased cell viability in a long term.
Highlights
Tissue engineering is a field with potential for designing and constructing tissues or organs to restore their function or even completely replace them
We developed an alginate hydrogel modified with nano-/microfibers of titanium dioxide and hydroxyapatite and evaluated its biological and chemical properties
Comparing FTIR spectra (Figure 1) of alginate hydrogel (1) with nfHY (2) or nano-/microfibers of titanium dioxide (nfTD) (3), we observe that AH maintained their chemical structure
Summary
Tissue engineering is a field with potential for designing and constructing tissues or organs to restore their function or even completely replace them. Scaffolds are three-dimensional structures used to support and guide the in-growth of cells, forming the template for cell colonization, proliferation as well as being able to provide different sets of physiological signals to the developing tissue [7, 8]. Scaffolds perform the structural and biochemical functions of the native extracellular matrix (ECM) until the cells are able to produce their own ECM [9, 10]. It is well known that the native ECM provides a substrate with specific bioactive molecules that controls cellular process such as cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, differentiation, survival and physical support for cells, characteristics that challenge researchers to elaborate an ideal scaffold [11]. Since collagen structure is important for cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation, nano-/microfibers
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