Magnetic nanohydroxyapatite/PVA composite hydrogels for promoted osteoblast adhesion and proliferation

This paper reports on the systematic investigation of novel magnetic nano-hydroxyapatite/PVA composite hydrogels through cyclic freeze–thawing with controllable structure, mechanical properties, and cell adhesion and proliferation properties. The content of the magnetic nano-hydroxyapatite-coated γ-Fe2O3 (m-nHAP) particles exhibited remarkable influence on the porous structures and compressive strength of the nanocomposite hydrogels. The average pore diameter of the nanocomposite hydrogels exhibited a minimum of 1.6 ± 0.3 μm whereas the compressive strength reached a maximum of about 29.6 ± 6.5 MPa with the m-nHAP content of around 10 wt% in the nanocomposite hydrogels. In order to elucidate the influence of the composite m-nHAP on the cell adhesion and proliferation on the composite hydrogels, the PVA, γ-Fe2O3/PVA, nHAP/PVA and m-nHAP/PVA hydrogels were seeded and cultured with osteoblasts. The results demonstrated that the osteoblasts preferentially adhered to and proliferated on the m-nHAP/PVA hydrogels, in comparison to the PVA and nHAP/PVA hydrogels, whereas the γ-Fe2O3/PVA hydrogels appeared most favorable to the osteoblasts. Moreover, with the increasing m-nHAP content in the composite hydrogels, the adhesion density and proliferation of the osteoblasts were significantly promoted, especially at the content of around 50 wt%.

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► We fabricate bioactive nHAP@Fe2O3 composite nanoparticles with PVA hydrogel.
► Nanoparticle content has significant effect on pore size and compressive strength.
► The nHAP@Fe2O3/PVA hydrogels promote osteoblast growth compared to PVA alone.
► The nanoparticle content has notable effect on osteoblast growth on hydrogel.
► The Fe2O3 is a major cause to osteoblast growth promotion.