Preparation and characterization of carbon nanotube-grafted-chitosan - Natural hydroxyapatite composite for bone tissue engineering

Porous biodegradable and biocompatible chitosan chitosan with natural hydroxypatite derived from Thunnus Obesus bone (chitosan/HAp) and chitosan grafted with functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotube in addition to HAp (f-MWCNT-g-chitosan/HAp) scaffolds were prepared for the first time via freeze-drying method and physiochemically characterized as bone graft substitutes The cross-linkages in the novel f-MWCNT-g-chitosan/HAp scaffold were observed by FT-IR spectroscopy The water uptake retention ability and degradation of composite scaffolds decreased whereas thermal stability increased with an addition of HAp and f-MWCNT Uniform dispersion of HAp and f-MWCNT in chitosan matrix with interconnected porosity of 70-200 mu m (chitosan/HAp) and 46-200 mu m (f-MWENT-g-chitosan/HAp) was observed by X-ray diffraction scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy Cell proliferation in composite scaffolds was twice than in pure chitosan when checked in vitro using MG-63 cell line These observations suggest that the novel chitosan/HAp and f-MWCNT-g-chitosan/HAp composite scaffolds are promising biomaterials for bone tissue engineering (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved