Development of novel mechanically stable porous nanocomposite (PVDF-PMMA/HAp/TiO2) film scaffold with nanowhiskers surface morphology for bone repair applications

The aim of the present study was to develop novel porous, mechanically stable, hydrophilic nanocomposite polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/hydroxyapatite (HAp)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) (PPHT) film scaffolds with nano whiskers surface morphology for bone repair applications. PPHT polymer films were prepared by solution casting technique. The FE-SEM results confirmed the porous nature of PPHT polymer films with uniform whisker shape nano size surface morphology. The contact angle and tensile strength of PPHT-10% were found to be 45 degrees and 3.9-4.4 MPa, respectively. The in vitro osteocompatibility study results showed that PPHT-10% enabled greater cell adherence, differentiation and proliferation than those on controls. The quantification of calcium adsorbed on PPHT-10%, by alizarin red S staining (ARS) method, was found to be 50.272 mu mol. Hence, the observed results stress the functionality of porous nanocomposite PPHT-10% polymer thin film as a scaffolds for bone repair applications. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.