Biological properties of novel chitosan-based composites for medical application as bone substitute

Use of Chitosan as a Precursor for Multiple Applications in Medicinal Chemistry: Recent Significant Contributions

Chitosan (CS) is a polymer made up of mainly deacetylated β-1,4 D-glucosamine units, which is part of a large group of D-glucosamine oligomers known as chitooligosaccharides, which can be obtained from chitin, most abundant natural polymer after cellulose and central component of the shrimp exoskeleton. It is known that it can be used for the development of materials, among which its use stands out in wastewater treatment (removal of metal ions, dyes, and as a membrane in purification processes), food industry (anti-cholesterol and fat, packaging material, preservative, and food additive), agriculture (seed and fertilizer coating, controlled release agrochemicals), pulp and paper industry (surface treatment, adhesive paper), cosmetics (body creams, lotions, etc.), in the engineering of tissues, wound healing, as excipients for drug administration, gels, membranes, nanofibers, beads, microparticles, nanoparticles, scaffolds, sponges, and diverse biological ones, specifically antibacterial and antifungal activities. This article reviews the main contributions published in the last ten years regarding the use and application of CS in medical chemistry. The applications exposed here involve regenerative medicine in the design of bioprocesses and tissue engineering, Pharmaceutical sciences to obtain biomaterials, polymers, biomedicine, and the use of nanomaterials and nanotechnology, toxicology, and Clinical Pharmaceuticals, emphasizing the perspectives and the direction that can take research in this area.

Efficacy of Nano Composite Porous 3D Scaffold of Crab Shell and Al-Kharit Histological and Radiological for Bone Repair in Vivo

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of scaffold fabricated from Nano crab shell and Al-kharit (Papyrus Vaccine) for enhancing the healing of the experimentally induced bone defect in dogs. For this purpose, twenty healthy adult mongrel dogs were used in this study which divided randomly into two equal groups, under general anesthesia, 1 cm bone gap was created in the distal part of the tibia, that fixed by bone plate and screws. Nano crab shell scaffold was implanted. All experimental animals showed normal situation without any infection at the site of operation, while the radiography showed a periosteal and endosteal reaction. Moreover, the gaps were bridged faster in the treated group as compared with the control group. Treated animals showed new bone formation which represented by obvious lamellar bone, haversian canal and osteocyte cells in 90 days. In conclusion, the Nano crab shell scaffold gave better acceleration in the bone healing process, also this scaffolds may provide insight into the clinical repair of large bone defects

Hybrid chitosan/β-1,3-glucan matrix of bone scaffold enhances osteoblast adhesion, spreading and proliferation via promotion of serum protein adsorption

Initial protein adsorption to the material surface is crucial for osteoblast adhesion, survival, and rapid proliferation resulting in intensive new bone formation. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that modification of a chitosan matrix of chitosan/hydroxyapatite (chit/HA) biomaterial for bone tissue engineering applications with linear β-1,3-glucan (curdlan) leads to promotion of serum protein adsorption to the resultant scaffold (chit/glu/HA) and thus in enhancement of osteoblast adhesion, spreading and proliferation. Fabricated biomaterials were pre-adsorbed with different protein solutions and then protein adsorption and osteoblast behavior on the scaffolds were compared. Moreover, surface chemical composition, wettability and surface energy of biomaterials were compared. Modification of the chitosan matrix with β-1,3-glucan introduces a greater polarpart in the resultant chitosan/β-1,3-glucan matrix presumably resulting from more OH groups within the curdlan structure. Moreover, FTIR-ATR results suggest that there might be some sort of chemical interaction between the NH group of chitosan and the OH group of β-1,3-glucan. As a consequence, the chit/glu/HA scaffold adsorbs significantly more adhesion proteins that are crucial for osteoblasts compared to the chit/HA material, providing a higher density culture of well-spread osteoblasts on its surface. Obtained results revealed that not only is chit/glu/HA biomaterial a promising scaffold for bone tissue engineering applications, but the specific polysaccharide chit/glu matrix itself is promising for use in the biomedical material field to modify various biomaterials in order to enhance osteoblast adhesion and proliferation on their surfaces.

Enhanced differentiation of osteoblastic cells on novel chitosan/β-1,3-glucan/bioceramic scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration

Bone scaffolds for regenerative medicine applications should have the ability to promote adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast cells. Osteoconductive, osteoinductive and osteopromotive properties of the material are essential for rapid bone regeneration and new bone formation. In this study, the osteogenic potential of two novel tri-component scaffolds composed of krill chitosan, bacterial β-1,3-glucan and bioceramics (HAp or a mix of HAp/β-TCP granules) was investigated. The typical markers of the first (type I collagen), second (bone alkaline phosphatase) and third stages (osteocalcin) of the osteoblast differentiation process were evaluated during in vitro experimentation. The study was carried out using three various osteoblastic cell lines (normal human fetal osteoblast cells hFOB 1.19, human osteoblast-like cells derived from osteosarcoma Saos-2 and mouse calvarial preosteoblast cells MC3T3-E1 Subclone 4). The bone alkaline phosphatase (bALP) and osteocalcin (OC) were determined quantitatively using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and type I collagen (Col I) was evaluated qualitatively using the direct immunofluorescence (DIF) method. The data obtained clearly prove that novel scaffolds have the ability to increase bALP activity, to enhance extracellular matrix synthesis (Col I and OC) and to induce mineralized nodule formation during osteogenic differentiation. In conclusion, novel tri-component materials have osteoconductive and osteopromotive properties, and thus are promising materials in bone tissue engineering applications to accelerate the bone regeneration process.

Addition of 1,3-β-D-glucan to chitosan-based composites enhances osteoblast adhesion, growth, and proliferation

The aim of this work was to prove using two osteoblastic cell lines that addition of bacterial 1,3-β-D-glucan to chitosan-based biocomposites significantly enhances adhesion, growth, and proliferation of osteoblast cells. Cytotoxicity of materials was evaluated indirectly using fluid extracts and by direct-contact method using live/dead double fluorescent staining. Cell adhesion was determined quantitatively by LDH total test and cell proliferation was assessed by confocal microscope observation. Obtained data clearly prove that addition of 1,3-β-D-glucan to the bi-component chitosan/bioceramic materials significantly enhances adhesion, growth, and proliferation of osteoblast cells. The results demonstrated that all investigated biomaterials were non-toxic and allowed for cell attachment. However, significantly better osteoblast growth was observed on scaffolds containing 1,3-β-D-glucan. Thus, it may be inferred that scaffolds modified with glucan are more promising materials for bone tissue engineering application than bi-component chitosan/bioceramic composites.

Chitosan/β-1,3-glucan/calcium phosphate ceramics composites--novel cell scaffolds for bone tissue engineering application

Bone tissue engineering put emphasis on fabrication three-dimensional biodegradable porous scaffolds that possess ability to enhance adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast cells, therefore supporting bone regeneration and functional bone tissue formation. The aim of this work was to fabricate novel tri-component scaffolds composed of chitosan, β-1,3-glucan, and bioceramics and to evaluate their basic structural, mechanical, and biological properties. It should be noted that we are the first who describe fabrication and characterization of tri-component composites containing β-1,3-glucan. Microstructure of novel composites was visualized by computed tomography scanning and SEM. Compressive strength and Young's modulus of the composites were evaluated by compression testing. The biocompatibility was assessed in vitro by cytotoxicity, cell attachment and cell proliferation tests using human foetal osteoblast cell line. Our results demonstrated that novel composites possess good compressive strength as the effect of polysaccharide components of scaffolds, are very elastic, are non-toxic, favourable to cell adhesion and promote cell proliferation. However, novel biomaterials revealed relatively low Young's modulus values. Thus, we infer that fabricated novel composites are promising materials for bone tissue engineering application as cell scaffolds to fill small bone losses rather than as massive bone fillers exposed to mechanical load.