Less Harmful Acidic Degradation of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) Bone Tissue Engineering Scaffolds Through Titania Nanoparticle Addition

摘要

One main concern of the use of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) as scaffold materials in bone tissue engineering is that their degradation products reduce local pH, which in turn induces an inflammatory reaction and damages bone cell health at the implant site. Thus, the objective of the present in vitro study was to investigate the degradation behavior of PLGA when added with dispersed titania nanoparticles. The results of this study provided the first evidence that the increased dispersion of nanophase titania in PLGA decreased the harmful change in pH normal for PLGA degradation. Moreover, previous studies have demonstrated that the increased dispersion of titania nanoparticles into PLGA significantly improved osteoblast (bone-forming cell) functions (such as adhesion, alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium-containing minerals deposition). In this manner, nanophase titania/PLGA composites may be promising scaffold materials for more effective orthopedic tissue engineering applications.