Natural polysaccharide (NPH)-based injectable hydrogels have shown great potential for critical-sized bone defect repair. However, their osteogenic, angiogenic, and mechanical properties are insufficient. Here, MgO nanoparticles (NPs) were incorporated into a newly synthesized water-soluble phosphocreatine-functionalized chitosan (CSMP) water solution to form an injectable hydrogel (CSMP-MgO) via supramolecular combination between phosphate groups in CSMP and magnesium in MgO NPs to circumvent these drawbacks of chitosan-based injectable hydrogels. Water-soluble chitosan deviate CSMP was first synthesized by grafting methacrylic anhydride and phosphocreatine into a chitosan chain in a one-step lyophilization process. The phosphocreatine in this hydrogel not only provides sites to combine with MgO NPs to form supramolecular binding but also serves as the reservoir to control Mg2+ release. As a result, the lyophilized CSMP-MgO hydrogels presented a porous structure with some small holes in the pore wall, and the pore diameters ranged from 50 to 100 μm. The CSMP-MgO injectable hydrogels were restricted from swelling in DI water (lowest swelling ratio was 16.0 ± 1.1 g/g) and presented no brittle failure during compression even at a strain above 85% (maximum compressive strength was 195.0 kPa) versus the control groups (28.0 and 41.3 kPa for CSMP and CSMP-MgO (0.5) hydrogels), with regulated Mg2+ release in a stable and sustained manner. The CSMP-MgO injectable hydrogels promoted in vitro calcium phosphate (hydroxyapatite (HA) and tetracalcium phosphate (TTCP)) deposition in supersaturated calcium phosphate solution and presented no cytotoxicity to MC3T3-E1 cells; the CSMP-MgO hydrogel promoted MC3T3-E1 cell osteogenic differentiation with upregulation of BSP, OPN, and Osterix osteogenic gene expression and mineralization and HUVEC tube formation. Among them, CSMP-MgO (5) presented most of these properties. Moreover, this hydrogel (CSMP-MgO (5)) showed an excellent ability to promote new bone formation in critical-sized calvarial defects in rats. Thus, the CSMP-MgO injectable hydrogel shows great promise for bone regeneration.
Keywords: angiogenesis; injectable hydrogel; osteogenesis; phosphate-functionalized chitosan; supramolecular combination.