Chitosan and cellulose-based composite hydrogels with embedded titanium dioxide nanoparticles as candidates for biomedical applications
Phanindra Babu Kasi, Mina Ghafouri Azar, Jagan Mohan Dodda, Petr Bělský, Tomáš Kovářík, Miroslav Šlouf, Jana Dobrá, Václav Babuška
Abstract
Hydrogel based matrices and titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles (NPs) are well established materials in bone tissue engineering . Nevertheless, there is still a challenge to design appropriate composites with enhanced mechanical properties and improved cell growth. Progressing in this direction, we synthesized nanocomposite hydrogels by impregnating TiO 2 NPs in a chitosan and cellulose-based hydrogel matrix containing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), to enhance the mechanical stability and swelling capacity. Although, TiO 2 has been incorporated into single and double component matrix systems, it has rarely been combined with a tri-component hydrogel matrix system. The doping of NPs was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , Raman spectroscopy , scanning electron microscopy and small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering. Our results showed that incorporation of TiO 2 NPs improved the tensile properties of the hydrogels significantly. Furthermore, we performed biological evaluation of scaffolds, swelling degree, bioactivity assessment, and hemolytic tests to prove that all types of hydrogels were safe for use in the human body. The culturing of human osteoblast-like cells MG-63 on hydrogels showed better adhesion of cells in the presence of TiO 2 and showed increasing proliferation with increasing amount of TiO 2 . Our results showed that the sample with the highest TiO 2 concentration, CS/MC/PVA/TiO 2 (1 %) had the best biological properties.