Biopolymer‐hydroxyapatite composite coatings prepared by electrospinning

Abstract

Biocompatibility in research and development of advanced prosthetics is a current problem faced by medical researchers. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a natural ceramic (responsible for strength and stability in the human skeletal system) operable as a biocomposite coating to improve the biocompatibility of materials such as silicon nitride, typically used for bone replacement. In this study, polymer based composites were prepared by electrospinning HA with a biocompatible polymer for the development of a structurally stable casing for prosthetic devices. Presented in this paper is the morphological and structural study of electrospun polymer-HA mats. Electrospun mats were calcinated at the phase transformation temperature of HA revealing pure HA wires with diameters just under 1 mm and lengths of the order of 10 to 50 mm. Results have outlined the dispersion mechanism of HA electrospun with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and cellulose acetate (CA) in varying solvents to discern the effects of acidic additives and electrospinning on the production of HA wires.

Aligned PLGA/HA nanofibrous nanocomposite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

“…Moreover, incorporation of nano-HA into the polymer matrix is considered to slow down the degradation process by neutralizing or buffering the pH changes caused by the typical acidic degradation products of polyesters [12,13]. Many researchers have investigated a number of characteristics of electrospun polymer/HA composites, using poly(3-hydroxybutyrateco-3-hydroxyvalerate), poly(lactic acid), poly(e-carprolactone), collagen and gelatin [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Efforts to mimic the natural ECM as closely as possible have lead researchers to opt for various collector designs to align the fibers so that the cells seeded on the scaffold will have specific orientation and guided growth [21].…”

Electrospinning of Nanocomposite Fibrillar Tubular and Flat Scaffolds with Controlled Fiber Orientation

“…In both cases, the aim has been to achieve unidirectional fibre orientation, in particular in the axial direction for tubular scaffolds, as is the case of fibre orientation in tunica media in arteries [6,19]. Various techniques have been used in the past for the fabrication of porous scaffolds, such as drawing [26], phase separation [31], template synthesis [7], self-assembly [37], particulate leaching [12], foaming [24], freeze-drying [23], and electrospinning [4,20,34,39]. Electrospinning has been used for the fabrication of the fibrous scaffolds in this study, followed by crosslinking of gelatine in glutaldehyde solution [15][16]36].…”

Hybrid Systems Biomolecule-Polymeric Nanoparticle: Synthesis, Properties and Biotechnological Applications

“…Another tissue for which electrospun nanofiber meshes have emerged as potential scaffolds is bone. Thomas et al [246] examined the mechanical properties of aligned PCL electrospun nanofiber meshes collected at different rotation speeds (0, 3,000, and 6,000 RPM) [241]. They observed that the nanofibers became more aligned as the rotation speed increased.…”

“…The use of electrospun fibers and fiber meshes in tissue engineering applications often involves several considerations, including choice of material, fiber orientation, porosity, surface modification and tissue application [240][241][242][243]. Choices in materials include both natural and synthetic materials, as well as hybrid blends of the two, which can provide an optimal combination of mechanical and biomimetic properties.…”