Construction of physical-crosslink chitosan/PVA double-network hydrogel with surface mineralization for bone repair

•Chitosan/PVA double network hydrogel was prepared based on physical-crosslink.•Surface mineralization was introduced to increase osteogenesis ability of hydrogel.•The hydrogel exhibits high strength and the ability to induce cell differentiation.•The hydrogel significantly accelerated regeneration of bone defects. Weak mechanical properties, lack biocompatibility and relatively bioinert are formidable obstruct in application of bone repair materials. Multifunctional composite materials have been considered as a viable solution to this problem. Here, a new double network (DN) hydrogel was constructed by physical cross-linking of medical grade poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and chitosan in KOH/urea dissolution system. The obtained hydrogel demonstrated excellent tensile strength (0.24 MPa), elongation at break (286%), and high compressive strength (0.11 MPa on the strain of 60%). Our studies showed that the prepared hydrogel had excellent biocompatibility in vitro and the introduction of hydroxyapatite (HAp) by surface mineralization imparted hydrogel the ability to induce rat bone marrow stem cells (rBMSCs) differentiation. The in vivo experiments revealed that the surface mineralized double network hydrogel significantly accelerated simultaneous regeneration of bone defects in a rabbit bone defect model. All the results indicated that this hydrogel has the potential as a bone repair material.