Abstract
In this study, we have reported the incorporation of a multi-modal contrast agent based on hydroxyapatite nanocrystals, within a poly(caprolactone)(PCL) nanofibrous scaffold by electrospinning. The multifunctional hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (MF-nHAp) showed simultaneous contrast enhancement for three major molecular imaging techniques. In this article, the magnetic resonance (MR) contrast enhancement ability of the MF-nHAp was exploited for the purpose of potentially monitoring as well as for influencing tissue regeneration. These MF-nHAp containing PCL scaffolds were engineered in order to enhance the osteogenic potential as well as its MR functionality for their application in bone tissue engineering. The nano-composite scaffolds along with pristine PCL were evaluated physico-chemically and biologically in vitro, in the presence of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The incorporation of 30–40 nm sized MF-nHAp within the nanofibers showed a substantial increase in scaffold strength, protein adsorption, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs along with enhanced MR functionality. This preliminary study was performed to eventually exploit the MR contrast imaging capability of MF-nHAp in nanofibrous scaffolds for real-time imaging of the changes in the tissue engineered construct.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
