Physical and in-vitro biological evaluations of plant based nano cellulose loaded injectable bone substitutes

An original, brushite (BR) based injectable bone substitute material comprised of plant-based nano cellulose i.e. cellulose nano crystal (CNC) and beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP) as the solid phase was developed. The purpose of this study was to explore the physico-mechanical and invitro biological properties of the prepared injectable bone substitute. The exceptional qualities of CNC including biocompatibility, good mechanical strength, microporosity, and biodegradability with its unique surface chemistry make it ideally suitable for bone regeneration applications. The CNC reinforced BR-based composites showed a high mechanical strength of similar to 13.0 MPa for BRCNC1.5 composite. The in-vitro biocompatibility and cytotoxicity of the prepared samples were analysed in MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells using MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. The protein absorption density of BRCNC2.0 was approximately 5 folds higher than that of BR. The results of the present study suggest that this novel injectable bone substitute material may be useful and efficient for bone tissue engineering.