Enhanced mechanical properties and bone bioactivity of chitosan/silica membrane by functionalized-carbon nanotube incorporation

A space-maintaining ability of degradable guided bone regeneration (GBR) membranes is still a challenge due to weak mechanical strength despite their excellent concept. Here we incorporated functionalized-carbon nanotube (f-CNT) for this purpose. In particular, a hybrid composition of chitosan/silica (CS/Si) was used as the matrix of the GBR membrane. With increasing f-CNT content, hydrophilic nature increased while hydrolytic degradability was reduced. Among the membranes with various contents of f-CNT (up to 3 wt%), 2 wt% f-CNT-doped CS/Si showed the highest mechanical properties, including tensile strength and elastic modulus as well as significantly improved bone bioactivity with respect to CS/Si free of f-CNT. In vivo animal study showed favorable tissue responses of the CNT-incorporated membrane. Taken all, the newly-developed CNT/CS/Si may find potential usefulness as a GBR membrane with excellent mechanical properties while exhibiting good bioactivity and tissue reaction.