Biocomposites containing natural polymers and hydroxyapatite for bone tissue engineering

Bone tissue engineering is an alternative strategy to generate bone utilizing a combination of biomaterials and cells. Biomaterials that mimic the structure and composition of bone tissues at nanoscale are important for the development of bone tissue engineering applications. Natural or biopolymer-based composites containing chitin, chitosan, or collagen have advantages such as biocompatibility, biodegradability that are essential for bone tissue engineering. The inclusion of nanoparticles of hydroxyapatite (one of the most widely used bioceramic materials) into the biopolymer matrix improves the mechanical properties and incorporates the nanotopographic features that mimic the nanostructure of bone. This review summarizes the recent work on the development of biocomposites containing natural polymers with hydroxyapatite particles suitable for use in bone defects/bone regeneration. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.