Poly(lactic acid) polymers containing silver and titanium dioxide nanoparticles to be used as scaffolds for bioengineering

The use of systems based on biodegradable polymers and nanoparticles has shown to be promising to bone tissue engineering. The combination of these materials aims to obtain systems with biological and mechanical suitable properties. The objective of the present paper was to obtain systems composed of polylactide with silver and titanium oxide nanoparticles alone and in binary systems. The systems obtained were characterized by infrared with Fourier transform, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, differentiated scanning calorimetry, relaxometry, cytotoxicity in L929 fibroblast, nanoindentation, wettability, and calcium and phosphate deposition. The titanium nanoparticles did not have a strong influence on the material's crystallinity. On the other hand, the silver nanoparticles acted as a nucleating agent in its lowest concentration, but it led to a decrease in crystallinity in the highest concentrations. The nanoparticles provoked antagonistic effects on the wettability: titanium caused a decrease, while silver led to an increase. The effect generated by silver was predominant in the binary systems. The cell viability test confirmed that all systems obtained are biocompatible. At large, the two particles' application simultaneously produced an increase in the deposition of phosphate calcium and in the nanohardness. Graphic abstract