Hydroxyapatite/hyperbranched polyitaconic acid/chitosan composite scaffold for bone tissue engineering

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, a promising modified composite scaffold (hydroxyapatite/hyperbranched polyitaconic acid/chitosan) was synthesized for bone tissue engineering. Novel hyperbranched polyitaconic acid was prepared through the polymerization of itaconic acid using reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer using a macro‐RAFT agent. The chemical structure of the prepared hyperbranched polyitaconic acid was characterized by FTIR and 1HNMR and was subsequently embedded into hydroxyapatite/chitosan composite. The obtained modified composite scaffold was evaluated by characterizing its porosity, mechanical properties, bioactivity and cytotoxicity. The results showed that the modified composite scaffold had higher mechanical strength (i.e., 0.56 ± 0.03 MPa) in comparison to chitosan/hydroxyapatite scaffold only (i.e., 0.31 ± 0.01 MPa) and also showed higher bioactivity. In addition, the modified composite scaffold (HAP/HBP‐RAFT‐PI/CS) showed anticancer properties and enhanced human skin fibroblasts proliferation.