Immobilization of bioactive glass ceramics @ 2D and 3D polyamide polymer substrates for bone tissue regeneration

Abstract

The osteoinductivity of bioactive glass ceramics (BGCs) is dependent on their ability to effectively interact with the surrounding physiological environment and influence the fate of target cells; however, masking and poor dispersion can negatively influence bioactivity. Here, we address this problem via a simple fabrication method of assembling highly ordered and aligned arrays of BGC nanoneedle-like structures (@) on the outer surface of various polyamide 6 (PA6) substrates (casted film, 3D printing filaments, electrospun fibre mats) by ion dissociation. The staggered-like nanoneedles of BGC@PA6 substrates with excellent uniform dispersion showed favourable cell viability, proliferation, and spreading of MC3T3 osteoblast-like cells. Moreover, the immobilized BGC nanoneedles induced osteogenic differentiation and accelerated the expression of late osteoblast marker genes, compared to the control group. Furthermore, the BGC@PA6 composite showed high affinity for bone-like apatite formation when incubated in physiological body fluids. These findings suggest that the unique dispersion of BGCs@PA6 substrates with nanostructure features make them attractive candidates for bone tissue regeneration and open avenues for future investigation into exploiting these properties for bone tissue engineering. Importantly, this work provides a novel concept for in-situ immobilization of BGC with distinctive topographical features onto polymer substrates simulating natural bone structure.

Keywords

• Bioactive glass
• Bone tissue engineering
• Composite materials
• 3D scaffold
• Nanomaterials