NANOCOMPOSITE HYDROGELS FOR CARTILAGE TISSUE ENGINEERING: MESOPOROUS SILICA NANOFIBRES INTERLINKED WITH SILOXANE DERIVED POLYSACCHARIDE

Injectable materials for mini-invasive surgery of cartilage were synthesised and thoroughly studied. The concept of these hybrid materials is based on providing high enough mechanical performances along with a good medium for chondrocyte proliferation. The unusual nanocomposite hydrogels are based on siloxane derived hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (Si-HPMC) interlinked with mesoporous silica nanofibres. The mandatory homogeneity of the nanocomposites was checked by fluorescent methods, which showed that the silica nanofibre dispersion was realised down to nanometric scale, suggesting an efficient immobilisation of the silica nanofibres onto the Si-HPMC scaffold. Such dispersion and immobilisation were reached due to the chemical affinity between the hydrophilic silica nanofibres and the pendant silanolate groups of the Si-HPMC chains. Tuning the amount of nanocharges allowed the tuning of the resulting mechanical features of these injectable biocompatible hybrid hydrogels. hASC stem cells and SW1353 chondrocytic cells viability was checked within the nanocomposite hydrogels up to 3 wt% of silica nanofibres.