title: Biological and mechanical properties of novel composites based on supramolecular polycaprolactone and functionalized hydroxyapatite.
abstract: Supramolecular polymers based on quadruple hydrogen-bonding ureido-pyrimidinone (UPy) moieties hold promise as dynamic/stimuli-responsive materials in applications such as tissue engineering. Here, a new class of materials is introduced: supramolecular polymer composites. We show that despite the highly ordered structure and tacticity-dependent nature of hydrogen-bonded supramolecular polymers, the bioactivity of these polymers can be tuned through composite preparation with bioceramics. These novel supramolecular composites combine the superior processability of supramolecular polymers with the excellent bioactivity and mechanical characteristics of bioceramics. In particular, the bioactive composites prepared from supramolecular polycaprolactone and UPy-grafted hydroxyapatite (HApUPy) are described that can be easily formed into microporous biomaterials. The compression moduli increased about 40 and 90% upon composite preparation with HAp and HApUPy, respectively, as an indication to improved mechanical properties. These new materials show excellent potential as microporous composite scaffolds for the adhesion and proliferation of rat mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs) as a first step toward bone regeneration studies; rMSCs proliferate about 2 and 2.7 times faster on the conventional composite with HAp and the supramolecular composite with (HApUPy) than on the neat PCL1250(UPy)(2).
authors.affiliation: Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1 EW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Parvin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shokrollahi
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mirzadeh
authors.forename: Oren A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Scherman
authors.forename: Wilhelm T S
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Huck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000494:pharmacology; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D017886:Durapatite / Q000494:pharmacology*; D055119:Elastic Modulus / Q000187:drug effects; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods*; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena / Q000187:drug effects*; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016062:Porosity / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*; D044366:Transition Temperature / Q000187:drug effects; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011091:Polyesters; D014867:Water; C016240:polycaprolactone; D017886:Durapatite