Novel fabrication of self-healing chitosan/alginate porous hydrogels with adhesive dopamine chemistry – based materials for improving therapeutic potential in femoral fractures

This study explores the significant impact of polydopamine nanospheres (PDA NPs) and its ability to modify porous structure and enhance the mechanical characteristics of chitosan/alginate (Ch/Alg) hydrogel nanocomposites for tissue engineering scaffolds. The porous scaffold with nano surface morphology, hierarchical pore structure and bio-mechanical strength was successfully synthesized. The biomineralization capacity of the Ch/Alg based scaffolds is significantly influenced by the PDA treatment, which speeds up the growth of apatite on the modified scaffolds. In loading and release experiments, Ch/Alg-DA/PDA hydrogels/scaffolds were confirmed its better adsorption ability to ciprofloxacin (CFLX) and more steady in vitro release behavior than the other hydrogels. Osteoblast cells were cultured on the surfaces of the scaffolds for up to 3 days, proliferation and cell viability were examined using fluorescence microscopy. Moreover, the PDA loaded Ch/Ag-DA can promote the adhesion/proliferation and spontaneous growth of osteoblast cells and the attained results also recommended that the interactions between Ch/Alg, Ca2+, catechol groups, and PDA NPs played a vital role in examining the pore size and structural/mechanical characteristics of the various scaffolds. Thus, the as prepared Ch/Ag-DA/PDA NPs could signify an idealistic tool for the treatment of bone deficiency and regeneration of bone tissue, among other applications.