Thiolated eudragit/β-cyclodextrin/centella asiatica nanomaterial for bone tissue engineering construct

Abstract

Polymeric scaffolds and nanomaterials enriched with herbal extracts have been extensively studied for bone tissue regeneration due to their well-organized targeting ability and site-specific action at the intended locus. The use of polymer hybrids functionalized with plant extract in developing bone-specific material is a significant approach. Therefore, the current study aimed to develop a nanomaterial using a combination of thiolated eudragit, β-cyclodextrin, and Centella Asiatica to promote bone tissue regeneration. Initially, a composite material was developed by freeze-thawing technique and subsequently, the composite was developed into a nanocomposite by combining ionic gelation and solvent precipitation techniques. The nanocomposite was characterized by dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, XRD, and FTIR studies. To assess the cytotoxicity and cell differentiation efficiency of the composite, in vitro cell line studies such as MTT assay and cell proliferation studies were performed using MG 63 (human bone fibroblasts) cell lines. In silico studies were conducted to investigate the bone-targeting efficacy of the developed nanocomposite. The results of FTIR and XRD analysis confirmed the successful thiolation of eudragit. SEM analysis of the composite showed a porous structure with an average pore diameter of 1 μm. DLS and AFM characterization indicated the zeta potential value of −37.06 mV and the average size of the nanocomposite was within 100–300 nm. The gel fraction and swelling degree of the developed nanocomposite were observed to be 80.08 ± 4.47% and 2.313 ± 0.04 respectively. Viscosity was determined to be 133.6 ± 26.008 cps. Optical profilometry data of the composite indicated mean roughness (Ra) and root mean square roughness (Rq) of 4.727 μm and 6.075 μm respectively. MTT assay inferred the cytotoxic nature and tolerance of the nanoparticles against the MG-63 cell lines. Cell proliferation studies on the MG-63 cell line exhibited a characteristic growth with the developed nanoparticles. In vitro studies in corroboration with the in silico method of molecular docking confirmed that the composite has the bone targeting efficacy and the osteogenic property where it plays a key role in the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway by being the inhibitor of Farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FDPS) which in turn results in bone tissue regeneration.