Fabrication and characterization of chitosan/gelatin/nSiO2 composite scaffold for bone tissue engineering

A 3D nanocomposite scaffold of chitosan, gelatin and nano-silica was fabricated by lyophilization to test the hypothesis that incorporation of nano-SiO2 could produce a better candidate for bone tissue engineering compared to pure chitosan and chitosan/gelatin scaffolds. The prepared scaffold was characterized using SEM and FTIR. Porosity, density, swelling, degradation, mechanical integrity, biomineralization and protein adsorption studies, favored it in comparison to the conventional chitosan and chitosan/gelatin scaffolds. In vitro cyto-compatablity, cell attachment-proliferation, ALP activity studies performed using MG-63 cells, advocate its remarkable performance. These cumulative results indicate the prepared nanocomposite scaffold as a prospective candidate for bone tissue engineering. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.