Evaluation of nanoparticles of hydroxyapatite and MWCNT's in scaffolds of poly lactic acid

In the tissue engineering, the cytotoxicity test is an important part of the biomaterials performance. This research reports the production and characterization of polylactic acid (PLA)-supported hydroxyapatite (HA) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) scaffolds as a bone graft material. Samples containing different HA/MWCNT wt% ratios were prepared by electrospinning. The obtained samples displayed valuable characteristics for the cell adhesion because of their porous-spongy bone-like morphology. The Fourier transforms infrared and Raman analyses indicated no chemical interaction of HA and MWCNT with PLA molecules, but they appear to be only embedded into the PLA fibers. As indicated by x-ray diffraction, crystalline HA and MWCNT's are supported in the amorphous PLA fibers. Under tensile stress, scaffolds display a Young's Modulus about 86 MPa, whilst the scaffolds resistance increases with the HA-MWCNT's ratio. However, the MTS in-vitro assays using the hFOB 1.19 (ATCC CRL-11372) cells, for cell exposure time of 24 and 48 h, revealed that viability reduces for HA-MWCNT's ratio values over 25 wt%. Our results suggest that a maximum HA/MWCNT's ratio of 19:1 could be acceptable for cell proliferation while maintaining HA at 200 mg.