Silver-loaded biomimetic hydroxyapatite grafted poly(epsilon-caprolactone) composite nanofibers: a cytotoxicity study

We report on poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) containing biomimetic hydroxyapatite (HA) and hydroxyapatite-silver (HA-Ag) composite nanofibers prepared via an electrospinning process for the biomedical applications. The morphology, structure and thermal properties of the PCL, PCL/HA and PCL/HA-Ag composite nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetry (TGA). SEM images revealed that the nanofibers were well-oriented and incorporated the HA-Ag nanoparticles well. The adhesion, viability and proliferation properties of composite nanofibers and differentiation of osteoblast were carried out to study the in vitro cell compatibility of the PCL/HA/HA-Ag composite nanofibers. Our results showed that pristine PCL and PCL/HA composite nanofibers scaffold can be utilized for the bone regeneration applications, however, PCL/HA-Ag composite nanofibers results in mild cytotoxic effect to human cells.