Abstract
Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the main mineral constituent in the hard tissue of vertebrate, which is recognized as an important biomedical material owing to its excellent bioactivity and biocompatibility. Herein, we report a facile and green sonochemical route for the rapid synthesis of cellulose/HA nanocomposites in NaOH/urea aqueous solution. The in vitro behavior of the cellulose/HA nanocomposites was studied to evaluate the biological response of the nanocomposites following immersion in simulated body fluid for various periods (maximum of 28 days). The HA crystals formed on the surface of the nanocomposites were carbonate-containing apatite, which is similar to the naturally occurring calcium phosphate materials. The HA nanosheets (assembly of nanorods) were mineralized on the surface of the nanocomposites, and maximum mass of the nanocomposites was reached 1.82 times of initial mass after 28 days of soaking. Moreover, the as-prepared cellulose/HA nanocomposites have good cytocompatibility, and show a relatively high protein adsorption ability using hemoglobin as a model protein. These results indicate that the as-prepared cellulose/HA nanocomposites are promising for applications in various biomedical fields such as tissue engineering and protein/drug delivery.
Highlights
Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the main mineral component in the hard tissue of vertebrate bones and teeth as well as the most stable calcium phosphate phase under physiological conditions[1,2]
The cellulose/HA nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile and green sonochemical route in NaOH-urea aqueous solution (Fig. 1), which possessed at least three advantages: (i) the sonochemical method can drive chemical reactions due to the acoustic cavitation, and it is a greener and promising method compared with conventional methods such as oil heating; (ii) in comparison with other polymer matrices such as collagen, cellulose can be obtained from plants, which is an abundant and renewable biopolymer in the biosphere; (iii) cellulose could serve as the substrates for HA crystals, the inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonds network of cellulose might serve as the structure directing agent that control the growth of HA crystals
The in vitro behavior of the as-prepared cellulose/HA nanocomposites was studied to evaluate the biological response of the nanocomposites following immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF) for various periods, and the nanocomposites exhibit high ability to induce the formation of apatite
Summary
Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the main mineral component in the hard tissue of vertebrate bones and teeth as well as the most stable calcium phosphate phase under physiological conditions[1,2]. Synthetic HA has received great research interest owing to its excellent biocompatibility, bioactivity, and osteoconductivity[3,4,5] These excellent properties bring it promosing applications in bone repair[6], tissue engineering[7,8], drug/protein/gene delivery[9,10], and other biomedical fields[11,12,13]. Sonochemical method has been recognized as a promising strategy for the preparation of materials with novel morphologies and properties, owing to its features of intense local heating, high pressures, and extremely rapid cooling rates[25,26]. The sonochemical method has been developed in the preparation of cellulose-based nanocomposites, www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Such as cellulose/CaCO3, cellulose/Mn3O4, and cellulose/Cu(OH)2/CuO hybrids[33,34,35]. The as-prepared cellulose/HA nanocomposites are promising for various biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and protein/drug delivery
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