Synthesis and characterization of β-cyclodextrin/carboxymethyl chitosan/hydroxyapatite fused with date seed extract nanocomposite scaffolds for regenerative bone tissue engineering

Abstract

Herein, for the first time, heterojunctions containing nano-hydroxyapatite/carboxymethyl chitosan/β-cyclodextrin fused with date seed extract (DSE) were synthesized at different concentrations using co-precipitation to generate BCHD1, BCHD2 and BCHD3 nanocomposite scaffolds with tunable size and amendable surface properties. FTIR, XRD and mechanical analysis studies confirmed the presence of different constituents in the proposed nanocomposite scaffolds displaying strong interactions with an optimal compressive modulus shown by BCHD3 [1533 ± 2.69 MPa], relative to nano-hydroxyapatite/carboxymethyl chitosan (CH) nanocomposite scaffolds. The results of TEM, water contact angle and SEM revealed the homogenous distribution of needle-shaped particles having an average size ranging between 18 and 25 nm with a moderate hydrophilicity [WCA = 42.5°] and an interconnected rough morphology. Furthermore, the BCHD nanocomposite scaffolds were investigated for their biomimetic mineralization ability using simulated body fluid by mimicking the inorganic composition of human blood plasma, which demonstrated superior hydroxyapatite nucleation. The BCHD3 nanocomposite scaffolds showed an advanced protein adsorption [130 ± 41 μg cm⁻²] and active alkaline phosphatase performance and did not exacerbate lactate dehydrogenase leakage of MG63 osteoblast-like cells relative to CH. The comprehensive in vivo study identified better bone regeneration in the repair of critical size calvarial defects [8 mm] in albino rats upon treatment with BCHD3, which is selectively tested as a bare implant in comparison to cerabone, as corroborated by the histopathological and radiological investigations with an average GBD of 94.5 ± 1.24%. Therefore, the above-mentioned results have shed more light on establishing the efficiency of BCHD3 to find applications in osteogenic tissue engineering.