Nano-hydroxyapatite-Cellulose acetate composites for growing of bone cells

Natural bone consists of natural polymers, collagen fibers and nanocrystals of minerals, mainly nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HA). Bone cells, which maintain the activities and metabolism of bone, are supported by and interact with this organic-inorganic hybrid matrix in nature. Artificial bone tissue scaffolds based on natural hybrids of cellulose acetate (CA) and nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HA) were fabricated in a bio-mimicking 3D matrix architecture using a single step nanomanufacturing technique and were used for in-vitro bone regeneration studies for up to 14 days. Osteoblasts grown on these scaffolds were found to interact strongly with the HA nanoclusters that were uniformly distributed on the CA fibers, promoting cell elongation, growth and phenotype retention. Hexagonal apatite crystals were shown to crystallize on the n-HA seeds. The natural, open, hybrid, 3D nanoscaffolds thus appear to be most promising bone repair agents. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.