The preparation and in vitro evaluations of a nanoscaled injectable bone repair material

Abstract

There are usually two forms of bone repair materials, block and granular, for common clinical use. This paper describes a novel injectable material, nano-HA/collagen/alginate (nHAC/Alg) composite biomaterial, including its preparation and evaluations in vitro. Based on the idea of bionics and the study of collagen/calcium phosphate salt composite materials, the injectable bone repair material was developed. Then, human bone marrow stem cells (hBMSCs) were cultured on the nHAC/Alg material. The cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation were evaluated with inverted microscope, scanning electron microscope, laser scanning confocal microscope, 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) analysis, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) test. The results showed that nHAC/Alg not only had no negative effect on cellular functions but also promotes cell proliferation and differentiation into osteogenic cells, which suggests that the nanoscaled injectable bone repair material has good clinical application prospects for bone repair.