Chitosan scaffolds containing chicken feather keratin nanoparticles for bone tissue engineering

Chicken feathers are considered as major waste from poultry industry. They are mostly constituted by a protein called keratin. In this study, keratin was prepared from chicken feathers and from where keratin nanoparticles (nKer) were synthesized. Since chitosan has excellent properties like controlled biodegradation and biocompatibility, we used keratin nanoparticles along with chitosan matrix as scaffolds (CS/nKer) and they were characterized by SEM, FT-IR and XRD analyses. There was a porous architecture in the scaffolds in the range to support cell infiltration and tissue ingrowth. The keratin nanoparticles had interaction with chitosan matrix and did not alter the semi crystalline nature of chitosan scaffolds. The biodegradation and protein adsorption of the scaffolds were significantly increased upon addition of keratin nanoparticles. The scaffolds were also found to be non-cytotoxic to human osteoblastic cells. Thus, CS/nKer scaffolds could serve as a potential biomimetic substrate for bone tissue engineering applications.