Constructing a biomimetic nanocomposite with the in situ deposition of spherical hydroxyapatite nanoparticles to induce bone regeneration

Inspired by the nanostructure of bone, biomimetic nanocomposites comprising natural polymers and inorganic nanoparticles have gained much attention for bone regenerative applications. However, the mechanical and biological performances of nanocomposites are largely limited by the inhomogeneous distribution, uncontrolled size and irregular morphology of inorganic nanoparticles at present. In this work, an innovative in situ precipitation method has been developed to construct a biomimetic nanocomposite which consists of spherical hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticles and gelatin (Gel). The homogeneous dispersion of HA nanoparticles in nHA-Gel endowed it with a low swelling ratio, enhanced mechanical properties and slow degradation. Moreover, strontium (Sr) was incorporated into HA nanoparticles to further enhance the bioactivity of nanocomposites. In vitro experiments suggested that nHA-Gel and Sr-nHA-Gel facilitated cell spreading and promoted osteogenic differentiation of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) as compared to pure Gel and mHA-Gel conventional composites developed by mechanical mixing. In vivo rat critical-sized calvarial defect repair further confirmed that nHA-Gel and Sr-nHA-Gel possessed relatively effective bone regenerative abilities among the four groups. Collectively, the biomimetic nanocomposites of nHA-Gel and Sr-nHA-Gel have good efficacy in inducing bone regeneration and would be a promising alternative to bone grafts for clinical applications.