Amrita Centre for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Lane, Edapally, Kochi, 682041, India.
J Mater Sci Mater Med. 2012 Jul;23(7):1749-61. doi: 10.1007/s10856-012-4647-x. Epub 2012 May 3.
Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a widely accepted synthetic biodegradable polymer for tissue engineering, however its use in hard tissue engineering is limited because of its inadequate mechanical strength and low bioactivity. In this study, we used halloysite nanoclay (NC) as an inorganic filler material to prepare PCL/NC fibrous scaffolds via electrospinning technique after intercalating NC within PCL by solution intercalation method. The obtained nanofibrous mat was found to be mechanically superior to PCL fibrous scaffolds. These scaffolds allowed greater protein adsorption and enhanced mineralization when incubated in simulated body fluid. Moreover, our results indicated that human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) seeded on these scaffolds were viable and could proliferate faster than in PCL scaffolds as confirmed by fluorescence and scanning electron microscopic observations. Further, osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs on nanoclay embedded scaffolds was demonstrated by an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity when compared to PCL scaffold without nanoclay. All of these results suggest the potential of PCL/NC scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.
聚己内酯（PCL）是一种被广泛认可的用于组织工程的合成可生物降解聚合物，但其在硬组织工程中的应用受到限制，因为其机械强度不足和生物活性低。在这项研究中，我们使用海泡石纳米粘土（NC）作为无机填料，通过溶液插层法将 NC 插入 PCL 中，然后通过静电纺丝技术制备 PCL/NC 纤维支架。所得纳米纤维垫在机械性能上优于 PCL 纤维支架。这些支架在模拟体液中孵育时允许更多的蛋白质吸附和增强矿化。此外，我们的结果表明，在这些支架上接种的人骨髓间充质干细胞（hMSCs）是存活的，并且比在 PCL 支架上增殖更快，这一点通过荧光和扫描电子显微镜观察得到证实。此外，与没有纳米粘土的 PCL 支架相比，hMSCs 在纳米粘土嵌入支架上的成骨分化通过碱性磷酸酶活性的增加得到证明。所有这些结果都表明 PCL/NC 支架在骨组织工程中的应用潜力。
