title: Fabrication and properties of chitin/hydroxyapatite hybrid hydrogels as scaffold nano-materials.
abstract: Novel hybrid hydrogels were prepared by introducing nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp) into chitin solution dissolved in NaOH/urea aqueous solution at low temperature, and then by cross-linking with epichlorohydrin (ECH). Their structure and morphology were characterized by FTIR spectra, wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Our findings revealed that hydroxyapatite nano-particles were uniformly dispersed in chitin hydrogel networks. The chitin/nHAP hybrid hydrogel (Gel2) exhibited about 10 times higher mechanical properties (compressive strength: 274 kPa) than that of chitin hydrogel. Moreover, COS-7 cell culture experiment proved that cells could adhere and proliferate well on the chitin/nHAp hydrogels, suggesting good biocompatibility. All these results signified that these bio-materials could be potential candidates as scaffolds for tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Chunyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yoshikuni
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Teramoto
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishio
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002686:Chitin / Q000737:chemistry*; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D017886:Durapatite / Q000737:chemistry*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D008422:Materials Testing; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D002686:Chitin; D017886:Durapatite