Gelatin-hydroxyapatite-based hybrid composites: Enhanced mechanical and biological characteristics through...

Gelatin-hydroxyapatite (HAp)-based scaffolds hold great promise for bone tissue engineering applications. Their integration presents outstanding characteristics including favored biocompatibility, excellent biodegradability, osteoconductivity, availability, low cost, and ease of preparation and processing. However, their applicability is impeded by the limitations of brittleness, low strength, and rapid degradation rate. To address these issues, biomaterials-reinforced gelatin-HAp scaffolds have gained great interest for enhancing their mechanical and biological characteristics. Therefore, this review, for the first time, represents a comprehensive overview of gelatin-HAp-based composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications. This review discusses the diverse preparation methods for developing gelatin-HAp composites and highlights the significance of biomaterials-reinforced gelatin-HAp composite scaffolds for enhancing mechanical, biological, and structural characteristics. Moreover, this review covers the influence of these composites on the culture of stem cells and their potential in drug delivery applications. In conclusion, this review offers insight into the development of hybrid composites, particularly those based on gelatin-HAp that fulfill all the mechanical and biological characteristics required for bone tissue engineering applications. Furthermore, this review presents future research directions based on gelatin-HAp composites to address multiple clinical challenges.