Novel nanocomposite biomaterial to differentiate bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells to the osteogenic lineage for bone restoration.

Background/objective: As the bone engineering field moves away from nonviable implants to more biocompatible and natural structures, nanomedicine has emerged as a superior tool for developing implantable materials.

Methods: Here, we describe the fabrication and testing of a nanocomposite structure composed of chitosan and a biocompatible thermoplastic (PMMA).

Results: Our nanocomposite material displayed morphologically similar characteristics to an extracted murine femur during microscopic and spectroscopic analysis as seen through SEM and FTIR. Crosslinking our nanocomposite enhanced structural and strength characteristics significantly above the noncrosslinked sample, mimicking the strength of an extracted mammalian bone. When cocultured with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, the composite material proved to be osteoinductive and osteogenic via DAPI and actin staining, differentiating BMSCs into the osteogenic lineage and promoting mineral deposition. Nodule formation, indicative of mineralization during BMSC differentiation, was confirmed spectroscopically via FTIR and autofluorescence of the nodule.

Conclusion: These encouraging results show promise for implantation of our novel scaffold that is both biocompatible and biomimetic in strength and composition.