Biocompatibility and osteoconductivity studies on hydroxyapatite-polymer composite scaffolds prepared by chemical synthesis

摘要

In bone tissue engineering, the scaffold plays the essential role of the matrix for the growth of the tissue and has to fulfil a few basic requirermopeenrttsie,paemrmeliytt ihngig che pll oardohseitsyi oann, dd ipffreorpenetri aptoiorne asnizde p, rroeliqfeuriaretiodns, uthrfeace ability to maintain the pre-designed tissue structure, biocompatibility and osteoconductivity (1). Bone can be considered as a nano-composite material made up of collagen protein and hydroxyapatite (HA) mineral phase, which makes up about 60-70% of the bone structure (2). In this context, the development of n-HA/PCL composite scaffold with specific biofunctionality certainly represents a valid strategy to mimic the tissue properties, and to guide new bone regeneration. However, the introduction of active cells such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into the 3D porous scaffold may support a more correct bone tissue advance into the 3D scaffold. MSCs are present in many human tissues, can be directly derived from marrow and do not appear to be rejected by the immune system allowing a ready availability of allogeneic tissue repair.In this study, we investigated the biocompatibility and the osteoconductive properties of HA/PCL composite using human bone marrow-derived stem cells (hMSC) to assess the potential of the proposed scaffold as an efficient substrate for bone regeneration.