Casein-assisted exfoliation of tungsten disulfide nanosheets for biomedical applications

Our regular life can be more challenging by bone abnormalities. Bone tissue engineering is used for repairing, regenerating, or replacing bone tissue that has been injured or infected. It is effective in overcoming the drawbacks of conventional bone grafting methods like autograft and allograft by enhancing the effectiveness of bone regeneration. Recent discoveries have shown that the exfoliation of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with protein is in great demand for bone tissue engineering applications. WS₂ nanosheets were developed using casein and subsequently characterized with different analytical techniques. Strong absorption peaks were observed in the UV-visible spectra at 520 nm and 630 nm. Alginate and alginate-casein WS₂ microspheres were developed. Stereomicroscopic images of the microspheres are spherical in shape and have an average diameter of around 0.8 ± 0.2 mm. The alginate-casein WS₂ microspheres show higher content of water absorption and retention properties than only alginate-containing microspheres. The apatite formation in the simulated bodily fluid solution was facilitated more effectively by the alginate-casein-WS₂ microspheres. Additionally, alginate-casein-WS₂ microspheres have a compressive strength is 58.01 ± 4 MPa. Finally, in vitro cell interaction studies reveals that both the microspheres are biocompatible with the C3H10T1/2 cells, and alginate-casein-WS₂-based microspheres promote cell growth more significantly. Alginate-casein-WS₂ microspheres promote alkaline phosphatase activity, and mineralization process. Additionally, alginate-casein-WS₂-based microspheres exponentially enhance the genes for ALP, BMP-2, OCN, and Collage type-1. The produced alginate-casein-WS₂ microspheres could be a suitable synthetic graft for a bone transplant replacement.