title: Development and characterisation of a collagen nano-hydroxyapatite composite scaffold for bone tissue engineering.
abstract: Bone regeneration requires scaffolds that possess suitable mechanical and biological properties. This study sought to develop a novel collagen-nHA biocomposite scaffold via two new methods. Firstly a stable nHA suspension was produced and added to a collagen slurry (suspension method), and secondly, porous collagen scaffolds were immersed in nHA suspension after freeze-drying (immersion method). Significantly stronger constructs were produced using both methods compared to collagen only scaffolds, with a high porosity maintained (>98.9%). It was found that Coll-nHA composite scaffolds produced by the suspension method were up to 18 times stiffer than the collagen control (5.50 +/- 1.70 kPa vs. 0.30 +/- 0.09 kPa). The suspension method was also more reproducible, and the quantity of nHA incorporated could be varied with greater ease than with the immersion technique. In addition, Coll-nHA composites display excellent biological activity, demonstrating their potential as bone graft substitutes in orthopaedic regenerative medicine.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
authors.forename: Gráinne M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Cunniffe
authors.forename: Glenn R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Dickson
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Partap
authors.forename: Kenneth T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Stanton
authors.forename: Fergal J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: O'Brien
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D001861:Bone Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D018786:Bone Substitutes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D002417:Cattle; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003094:Collagen / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D017886:Durapatite / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D048091:Guided Tissue Regeneration / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D018786:Bone Substitutes; C509317:nano-hydroxyapatite-collagen; D003094:Collagen; D017886:Durapatite