Biofunctionalization of dispense-plotted hydroxyapatite scaffolds with peptides: quantification and cellular response

Hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramic is a widely used synthetic bone substitute material for the regeneration of bone defects. We manufactured HA scaffolds with adjustable pore sizes and pore geometry by dispense-plotting. In addition, we attached peptides covalently onto the HA surface and are able to simultaneously quantify the amount of covalently attached and adsorbed peptide down to the picomolar range with a novel fluorescence-based detection method. In cell culture assays with stromal bone marrow cells, we observed a positive effect of biofunctionalization on cell differentiation after 21 days of culture when comparing the scaffold functionalized with the RGD motif containing adhesion peptide to an unmodified scaffold.