Composite Hydrogels of Alkyl Functionalized Gellan Gum Derivative and Hydroxyapatite/Tricalcium Phosphate Nanoparticles as Injectable Scaffolds for bone Regeneration

• Published in: Macromolecular bioscience Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. e2100290 - n/a
• Main Authors: Pitarresi, Giovanna, Palumbo, Fabio Salvatore, Fiorica, Calogero, Bongiovì, Flavia, Martorana, Annalisa, Federico, Salvatore, Chinnici, Cinzia Maria, Giammona, Gaetano
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-02-2022
• Subjects: Animals; Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; Biomolecules; Bone growth; Bone Regeneration; Calcium Phosphates; Crosslinking; Dexamethasone; Drug delivery; Durapatite - pharmacology; Gellan gum; Hydrogels; Hydrogels - chemistry; Hydrogels - pharmacology; Hydroxyapatite; Injectability; injectable hydrogels; Mechanical loading; Mice; Nanoparticles; Osteogenesis; Physicochemical properties; Polysaccharides; Polysaccharides, Bacterial; Regeneration; Regeneration (physiology); Rheological properties; Scaffolds; Tissue Engineering; Tricalcium phosphate; hydroxyapatite; bone regeneration; gellan gum; injectable hydrogels; tricalcium phosphate
• ISSN: 1616-5187; 1616-5195
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202100290

An alkyl functionalized gellan gum derivative is here used to produce hydrogels containing hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate nanoparticles as injectable nanostructured scaffolds for bone regeneration. The amphiphilic nature of the polysaccharide derivative along with its thermotropic behavior and ionotropic crosslinking features make possible to produce injectable bone mimetic scaffolds that can be used to release viable cells and osteoinductive biomolecules. The influence of different nanoparticles concentration on the rheological and physicochemical properties of the injectable systems is studied. It is found that the presence of inorganic nanoparticles reinforces the 3D hydrated polymeric networks without influencing their injectability but improving the physicochemical properties of ionotropic crosslinked hydrogels produced with two different curing media. Preliminary cytocompatibility tests performed with murine preosteoblast cells revealed that gellan gum based hydrogels can safely encapsulate viable cells. Loading and release experiments for dexamethasone and stromal cell‐derived factor‐1 demonstrate the drug delivery features of the obtained injectable systems.
Alkyl functionalized gellan gum derivative is used to produce injectable nanostructured hydrogels for bone regeneration containing hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate. GG‐C18 based hydrogels can encapsulate viable cells and undergo ionotropic crosslinking in saline media to form stable hydrogels with improved viscoelastic properties compared to the temperature induced hydrogels.