Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics Research Group

Papers in Scientific Journals

Gellan Gum Hydroxyapatite Composite Hydrogels for Bone Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Osteoinductive biomaterials represent a promising approach to advance bone grafting. Despite promising, the combination of sustained biodegradability, mechanical strength, and biocompatibility in a unique biomaterial that can also support cell performance and bone formation in vivo is demanding. Herein, we developed gellan gum (GG)-hydroxyapatite (HAp) spongy-like hydrogels to mimic the organic (GG) and inorganic (HAp) phases of the bone. HAp was successfully introduced within the GG polymeric networks, as determined by FTIR and XRD, without compromising the thermostability of the biomaterials, as showed by TGA. The developed biomaterials showed sustained degradation, high swelling, pore sizes between 200 and 300 μm, high porosity (>90%) and interconnectivity (<60%) that was inversely proportional to the total polymeric amount and to CaCl2 crosslinker. CaCl2 and HAp reinforced the mechanical properties of the biomaterials from a storage modulus of 40 KPa to 70-80 KPa. This study also showed that HAp and CaCl2 favored the bioactivity and that cells were able to adhere and spread within the biomaterials up to 21 days of culture. Overall, the possibility to tailor spongy-like hydrogels properties by including calcium as a crosslinker and by varying the amount of HAp will further contribute to understand how these features influence bone cells performance in vitro and bone formation in vivo.

Journal
J Biomed Mater Res A
Volume
106
Issue
2
Pagination
479–490
Publisher
Society for Biomaterials
ISSN
1552-4965
URL
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28960767
Keywords
Bone Tissue Engineering, Gellan Gum, hydroxyapatite, spongy-like hydrogels
Rights
Closed Access
Peer Reviewed
Yes
Status
published
Year of Publication
2018
DOI
10.1002/jbm.a.36248
Date Published
2018-02-06
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