Mineralization of osteoblasts with electrospun collagen/hydroxyapatite nanofibers

Regeneration of fractured or diseased bones is the challenge faced by current technologies in tissue engineering. The major solid components of human bone consist of collagen and hydroxyapatite. Collagen (Col) and hydroxyapatite (HA) have potential in mimicking natural extracellular matrix and replacing diseased skeletal bones. More attention has been focused on HA because of its crystallographic structure similar to inorganic compound found in natural bone and extensively investigated due to its excellent biocompatibility, bioactivity and osteoconductivity properties. In the present study, electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds are fabricated with collagen (80 mg/ml) and Col/HA (1:1). The diameter of the collagen nanofibers is around 265 +/- 0.64 nm and Col/HA nanofibers are 293 +/- 1.45 nm. The crystalline HA (29 +/- 7.5 nm) loaded into the collagen nanofibers are embedded within nanofibrous matrix of the scaffolds. Osteoblasts cultured on both scaffolds and show insignificant level of proliferation but mineralization was significantly (p < 0.001) increased to 56% in Col/HA nanofibrous scaffolds compared to collagen. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) spectroscopy results proved the presence of higher level of calcium and phosphorous in Col/HA nanocomposites than collagen nanofibrous scaffolds grown osteoblasts. The results of the present study suggested that the designed electrospun nanofibrous scaffold (Col/HA) have potential biomaterial for bone tissue engineering.