Multifunctional biomaterials that simultaneously combine high biocompatibility, biodegradability, and bioactivity are promising for applications in various biomedical fields such as bone defect repair and drug delivery. Herein, the synthesis of hydroxyapatite nanowire@magnesium silicate nanosheets (HANW@MS) core-shell porous hierarchical nanocomposites (nanobrushes) is reported. The morphology of the magnesium silicate (MS) shell can be controlled by simply varying the solvothermal temperature and the amount of Mg2+ ions. Compared with hydroxyapatite nanowires (HANWs), the HANW@MS core-shell porous hierarchical nanobrushes exhibit remarkably increased specific surface area and pore volume, endowing the HANW@MS core-shell porous hierarchical nanobrushes with high-performance drug loading and sustained release. Moreover, the porous scaffold of HANW@MS/chitosan (HANW@MS/CS) is prepared by incorporating the HANW@MS core-shell porous hierarchical nanobrushes into the chitosan (CS) matrix. The HANW@MS/CS porous scaffold not only promotes the attachment and growth of rat bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs), but also induces the expression of osteogenic differentiation related genes and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene of rBMSCs. Furthermore, the HANW@MS/CS porous scaffold can obviously stimulate in vivo bone regeneration, owing to its high bioactive performance on the osteogenic differentiation of rBMSCs and in vivo angiogenesis. Since Ca, Mg, Si, and P elements are essential in human bone tissue, HANW@MS core-shell porous hierarchical nanobrushes with multifunctional properties are expected to be promising for various biomedical applications such as bone defect repair and drug delivery.
Keywords: bone regeneration; drug delivery; hydroxyapatite; magnesium silicate; nanowires; porous scaffolds.