Preparation, characterization and in vitro biological study of biomimetic three-dimensional gelatin-montmorillonite/cellulose scaffold for tissue engineering

This work focused on studying the effect of blending gelatin (Gel) with Cellulose (Cel), in the presence of montmorillonite (MMT), on the swelling behavior, in vitro degradation and surface morphology. Additionally, the effect of the prepared biocomposites on the characteristics of the human osteosarcoma cells (Saos-2), including proliferation, scaffold/cells interactions, apoptosis and their potential of the cells to induce osteogenesis and differentiation was evaluated. The crosslinked biocomposites with glutaraldehyde (GA) or N,N-methylene-bisacrylamide (MBA) was prepared via an intercalation process and freeze-drying technique. Properties including SEM morphology, X-ray diffraction characterization and in vitro biodegradation were investigated. The successful generation of 3-D biomimetic porous scaffolds incorporating Saos-2 cells indicated their potential for de novo bone formation that exploits cell-matrix interactions. In vitro studies revealed that the scaffolds containing 12 and 6% MMT crosslinked by 5 and 0.5% GA seem to be the two most efficient and effective biodegradable scaffolds, which promoted Saos-2 cells proliferation, migration, expansion, adhesion, penetration, spreading, and differentiation, respectively. MMT improved cytocompatibility between the osteoblasts and the biocomposite. In vitro analysis indicated good biocompatibility of the scaffold and presents the scaffold as a new potential candidate as suitable biohybrid material for tissue engineering.