Electrophoretic Deposition of Dexamethasone-Loaded Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles onto Poly(L-Lactic...

The incorporation of microcarriers as drug delivery vehicles into polymeric scaffold for bone regeneration has aroused increasing interest. In this study, the aminated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs-NH2) were prepared and used as microcarriers for dexamethasone (DEX) loading. Poly(l-lactic acid)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PLLA/PCL) nanofibrous scaffold was fabricated via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) and served as template, onto which the drug-loaded MSNs-NH2 nanoparticles were deposited by electrophoretic deposition (EPD). The physicochemical and release properties of the prepared scaffolds (DEX@MSNs-NH2/PLLA/PCL) were examined, and their osteogenic activities were also evaluated through in vitro and in vivo studies. The release of DEX from the scaffolds revealed an initial rapid release followed by a slower and sustained one. The in vitro results indicated that the DEX@MSNs-NH2/PLLA/PCL scaffold exhibited good biocompatibility to rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Also, BMSCs cultured on the DEX@MSNs-NH2/PLLA/PCL scaffold exhibited a higher degree of osteogenic differentiation than those cultured on PLLA/PCL and MSNs-NH2/PLLA/PCL scaffolds, in terms of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, mineralized matrix formation, and osteocalcin (OCN) expression. Furthermore, the in vivo results in a calvarial defect model of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats demonstrated that the DEX@MSNs-NH2/PLLA/PCL scaffold could significantly promote calvarial defect healing compared with the PLLA/PCL scaffold. Thus, the EPD technique provides a convenient way to incorporate osteogenic agents-containing microcarriers to polymer scaffold, and thus, prepared composite scaffold could be a potential candidate for bone tissue engineering application due to its capacity for delivery of osteogenic agents.