Microspheres containing biosynthesized silver nanoparticles with alginate-nano hydroxyapatite for biomedical applications

Abstract

Scaffolding system plays an important role in the development of artificial bone for treatment of defective or diseased bone tissue. In the present work, we have developed microspheres (COS-Ag-Alg-HA) containing chitooligosaccharide (COS) coated silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with alginate (Alg) and hydroxyapatite (HA) as bone graft substitutes. The developed microspheres were characterized through various analytical techniques such as UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy with EDX and evaluated the mechanical strength by using universal testing machine. In addition to this, antimicrobial activity and biocompatibility of the developed microspheres were evaluated with pathogenic microbes and osteoblast-like cells, respectively. Results suggest that microspheres are rigid, and strong chemical interactions were observed between the materials. The size of the microspheres was ranging from 1.5 ± 0.5 to 4.0 ± 0.5 mm. Significant microbial inhibition was observed against Staphylococcus aureus, and the developed microspheres are biocompatible with osteoblast-like cells. Based on the aforementioned finding results, the developed microsphere is proposed to be a potential candidate for bone tissue repair and regeneration.

Keywords:

• Antimicrobial
• chitooligosaccharide
• silver nanoparticle

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Srinath B. S, Assistant Professor, Mangalore University, Mangalore for providing S. aureus strain. Authors would like to thank Yenepoya Research Centre (YRC) and Yenepoya (Deemed to be University) for providing the laboratory facility to carry out the experiments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Teachers Associateship for Research Excellence (TARE), Department of Science and Technology, and Science and Engineering Research Board (DST-SERB), Government of India, New Delhi, for its financial support through the research project grant no. TAR/2018/001196.