Alginate composites for bone tissue engineering: A review

Bone is a complex and hierarchical tissue consisting of nano hydroxyapatite and collagen as major portion. Several attempts have been made to prepare the artificial bone so as to replace the autograft and allograft treatment. Tissue engineering is a promising approach to solve the several issues and is also useful in the construction of artificial bone with materials including polymer, ceramics, metals, cells and growth factors. Composites consisting of polymer-ceramics, best mimic the natural functions of bone. Alginate, an anionic polymer owing enormous biomedical applications, is gaining importance particularly in bone tissue engineering due to its biocompatibility and gel forming properties. Several composites such as alginate-polymer (PLGA, PEG and chitosan), alginate-protein (collagen and gelatin), alginate-ceramic, alginate-bioglass, alginate-biosilica, alginate-bone morphogenetic protein-2 and RGD peptides composite have been investigated till date. These alginate composites show enhanced biochemical significance in terms of porosity, mechanical strength, cell adhesion, biocompatibility, cell proliferation, alkaline phosphatase increase, excellent mineralization and osteogenic differentiation. Hence, alginate based composite biomaterials will be promising for bone tissue regeneration. This review will provide a broad overview of alginate preparation and its applications towards bone tissue engineering. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.