Novel chitin/nanosilica composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications

Biopolymers like chitin are widely investigated as scaffolds in bone tissue engineering. Its properties like biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, wound healing ability, antibacterial activity, hemostatic property, etc., are widely known. However, these materials are not much bioactive. Addition of material like silica can improve the bioactivity and biocompatibility of chitin. In this work, chitin composite scaffolds containing nanosilica were prepared using chitin hydrogel and their bioactivity, swelling ability and cytotoxicity was analyzed in vitro. These scaffolds were found to be bioactive in simulated body fluid (SBF) and biocompatible when tested with MG 63 cell line. These results suggest that chitin/nanosilica composite scaffolds can be useful for bone tissue engineering applications. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.