Objectives. Currently, an extraordinary interest is seen to explore the potential of graphene for applications in biomedical and regenerative engineering. The aim of the present study was to design, prepare and characterize new hybrid graphene-hydroxyapatite (HA) based scaffolds for bone regeneration. Methods. The materials, porcine bone derived HA (Apatos, OsteoBiol®, Tecnoss, Coazze, Italy) and equine bone derived HA added with collagen (Gen-Os, OsteoBiol®, Tecnoss, Coazza, Italy) were developed by coating HA granules with graphene oxide (GO), prepared by a modified version Hummers method. Graphene samples were characterized by Raman, SEM, TEM and AFM spectroscopy. In vitro MTT analysis, indicative of cellular metabolic activity, was performed on human gengival fibroblasts (HGF) cultured on the hybrid prototypes. Results. Preliminary TEM measurements highlight a good exfoliation of the different graphene derivatives, with the majority of graphene samples composed of one to three layers and an hybrid characterized by a good and homogeneous coating of the HA granules, as confirmed by Raman and other microscopy measurements. In vitro preliminary MTT analysis on HGF shows no toxic effects of GO, whereas GO-enriched HA improves the metabolic cellular response when compared to HA alone up to 7 days of culture. Conclusions. The obtained materials appear to be very promising for regenerative engineering applications. Further investigations will be conducted to assess the osteoinductive potential of the newly deveoped materials.
Graphene coated hydroxyapatite scaffolds for bone regeneration: preparation and characterization
PERROTTI, Vittoria;FONTANA, Antonella;PIATTELLI, Adriano;CATALDI, Amelia;IEZZI, GIOVANNA
2014-01-01
Abstract
Objectives. Currently, an extraordinary interest is seen to explore the potential of graphene for applications in biomedical and regenerative engineering. The aim of the present study was to design, prepare and characterize new hybrid graphene-hydroxyapatite (HA) based scaffolds for bone regeneration. Methods. The materials, porcine bone derived HA (Apatos, OsteoBiol®, Tecnoss, Coazze, Italy) and equine bone derived HA added with collagen (Gen-Os, OsteoBiol®, Tecnoss, Coazza, Italy) were developed by coating HA granules with graphene oxide (GO), prepared by a modified version Hummers method. Graphene samples were characterized by Raman, SEM, TEM and AFM spectroscopy. In vitro MTT analysis, indicative of cellular metabolic activity, was performed on human gengival fibroblasts (HGF) cultured on the hybrid prototypes. Results. Preliminary TEM measurements highlight a good exfoliation of the different graphene derivatives, with the majority of graphene samples composed of one to three layers and an hybrid characterized by a good and homogeneous coating of the HA granules, as confirmed by Raman and other microscopy measurements. In vitro preliminary MTT analysis on HGF shows no toxic effects of GO, whereas GO-enriched HA improves the metabolic cellular response when compared to HA alone up to 7 days of culture. Conclusions. The obtained materials appear to be very promising for regenerative engineering applications. Further investigations will be conducted to assess the osteoinductive potential of the newly deveoped materials.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
