Sponges occur ubiquitously in the marine realm and in some deep-sea areas they
dominate the benthic communities forming complex biogenic habitats – sponge
grounds, aggregations, gardens and reefs. However, deep-sea sponges and spongegrounds
are still poorly investigated with regards to biotechnological potential in
support of a Blue growth strategy. Under the scope of this study, five dominant North
Atlantic deep-sea sponges, were characterized to elucidate promising applications
in human health, namely for bone tissue engineering approaches. Geodia barretti
(Gb), Geodia atlantica (Ga), Stelletta normani (Sn), Phakellia ventilabrum (Pv), and
Axinella infundibuliformis (Ai), were morphologically characterized to assess macro
and microstructural features, as well as chemical composition of the skeletons, using
optical and scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and
microcomputed tomography analyses. Moreover, compress tests were conducted to
determine the mechanical properties of the skeletons. Results showed that all studied
sponges have porous skeletons with porosity higher than 68%, pore size superior
than 149 mm and higher interconnectivity (>96%), thus providing interesting models
for the development of scaffolds for tissue engineering. Besides that, EDS analyses
revealed that the chemical composition of sponges, pointed that demosponge skeletons
are mainly constituted by carbon, silicon, sulfur, and oxygen combined mutually
with organic and inorganic elements embedded its internal architecture that can be
important features for promoting bone matrix quality and bone mineralization. Finally, the
morphological, mechanical, and chemical characteristics here investigated unraveled
the potential of deep-sea sponges as a source of biomaterials and biomimetic models
envisaging tissue engineering applications for bone regeneration.