The use of calcium ions instead of heat treatment for β-1,3-glucan gelation improves biocompatibility of the β-1,3-glucan/HA bone scaffold

Katarzyna Klimek; Agata Przekora; Aleksandra Benko; Wiktor Niemiec; Marta Blazewicz; Grazyna Ginalska

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.02.015

The use of calcium ions instead of heat treatment for β-1,3-glucan gelation improves biocompatibility of the β-1,3-glucan/HA bone scaffold

Carbohydr Polym. 2017 May 15:164:170-178. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.02.015. Epub 2017 Feb 4.

Authors

Katarzyna Klimek¹, Agata Przekora², Aleksandra Benko³, Wiktor Niemiec³, Marta Blazewicz³, Grazyna Ginalska⁴

Affiliations

¹ Medical University of Lublin, Chair and Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Chodzki 1 Street, 20-093 Lublin, Poland. Electronic address: katarzyna.klimek@umlub.pl.
² Medical University of Lublin, Chair and Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Chodzki 1 Street, 20-093 Lublin, Poland. Electronic address: agata.przekora@umlub.pl.
³ AGH University, Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, Department of Biomaterials, A. Mickiewicza 30 Ave., 30-059 Krakow, Poland.
⁴ Medical University of Lublin, Chair and Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Chodzki 1 Street, 20-093 Lublin, Poland.

PMID: 28325314
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.02.015

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine which procedure for β-1,3-glucan gelation - newly developed dialysis against calcium salt or described in the literature thermal technique - is more appropriate for fabrication of a biomaterial designed for bone tissue engineering applications. Thus, β-1,3-glucan/hydroxyapatite scaffolds were prepared based on two different methods and their physicochemical, microstructural, and biological properties were compared. Obtained results demonstrated that unlike thermal method-prepared β-1,3-glucan/hydroxyapatite material (glu/HAT), bone scaffold fabricated via dialysis method (glu/HA D) possessed rough surface resulting from the presence of CaCl₂ precipitates as proven by SEM and EDS analysis. As a consequence, glu/HA D scaffold released Ca²⁺ ions to the surrounding environment positively affecting osteoblast behaviour and biomineralization in vitro. Since glu/HA D material exhibited better bioactivity and biocompatibility compared to the glu/HA T scaffold, it may be concluded that the dialysis method is more suitable for β-1,3-glucan/hydroxyapatite biomaterial fabrication.

Keywords: AFM; Bioactivity; Biomaterials; Curdlan; FTIR; Osteoblast behaviour.