Polyvinyl alcohol-collagen-hydroxyapatite biocomposite nanofibrous scaffold: Mimicking the key features of natural bone at the nanoscale level

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers, PVA/Type I Collagen (Col) and their composites with hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (nano-HAp) were prepared by electrospinning techniques. The composite nanofibrous membranes were subjected to detailed analysis. Morphological investigations show that the generated nanofibers (NFs) have uniform morphology with an average diameter of similar to 160 nm for pure PVA, similar to 176 nm for PVA/n-HAp, similar to 245 nm for PVA/Col and similar to 320 nm for PVA/Col/n-HAp. It is of interest to observe that large numbers of HAp nanorods are preferentially oriented parallel to the longitudinal direction of the electrospun PVA and/or PVA/Col NFs. FTIR and thermal analysis demonstrated that there was strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the molecules of PVA/Col/n-HAp. Furthermore, the obtained PVA/Col/nHAp NFs scaffold (7 cm x 11 cm) has a porous structure with adjustable pore size and shape. The pore size is in the range of 650 mu m with a porosity of 49.5%. On the other hand, mechanical characterizations revealed that the incorporating of 5 wt% n-HAp into the matrix of PVA/Col nanofibers could significantly improve the rigidity of the resultant biocomposite nanofibrous scaffold. These results strongly suggest a huge potential of the prepared scaffold for bone tissue engineering. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.