Fabrication and characterisation of gelatin-hyaluronic acid/nanobioactive glass hybrid scaffolds for tissue engineering

Abstract

Nanobioactive glass (NBG) particles were synthesised via sol–gel method and characterised by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The new composite biomaterial based on gelatin (Gel) conjugated with hyaluronic acid (HA) and NBG in the ternary SiO₂–CaO–P₂O₅ system was prepared through freeze drying method. The composite scaffold was characterised by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermal analyses. Mechanical properties and swelling behaviour of this composite are compared with properties of Gel-HA/NBG composite of similar material without NBG. The TEM results indicated that the prepared NBG particle size was ∼100 nm. The SEM studies showed that the NBG were homogenously distributed within the Gel/HA matrix and the composite scaffolds showed interconnected pores with a size varied from 50 to 200 μm. The Gel-HA/NBG composite scaffold showed higher compressive strength and better stability than the Gel/HA scaffold. These results indicate that composite scaffolds developed using NBG disseminated Gel/HA matrix as potential scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.

Keywords:

• Gelatin
• Hyaluronic acid
• Nanobioactive glass
• Hybrid scaffold

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Fund of China (grant no. 51273062), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 12JJA003), the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (grant no. 11B045) and the Aid program for Science and Technology Innovative Research Team in Higher Educational Institutions of Hunan Province.