One pot method to synthesize three-dimensional porous hydroxyapatite nanocomposite for bone tissue engineering

A three-dimensional porous hydroxyapatite nanocomposite has been synthesized by a simple, less energy consuming and cost effective one-pot method. In this study, gelatin foam has been used as pore forming agent and incorporated in carboxymethyl cellulose-hydroxyapatite system in composite formation stage. A three-dimensional porous polymers-hydroxyapatite nanocomposite has been formed as a final product. The synthesized porous nanocomposite has been thoroughly characterized by different techniques. It was found that the nanocomposite is highly porous with almost 80% porosity, and has multi-scale pores from 2.5 to 900 mu m in size. Furthermore, the synthesized porous composite has compressive strength ~ 11.8 +/- 1.5 MPa and modulus ~ 0.243 +/- 0.031 GPa, in the range of cancellous bone. Moreover, the nanocomposite provides favorable environment to cells for proliferation, high alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and extracellular mineralization. In vitro degradation of synthesized nanocomposites was tested in simulated body fluid. Results ascertained that the synthesized porous hydroxyapatite nanocomposite would be a promising scaffold for bone tissue engineering.