Bioceramic scaffolds, composed of a biphasic composite containing bioactive glass and hydroxyapatite, were prepared in this work to overcome the intrinsic limits of the two components taken separately (in particular, their specific reactivities and dissolution rates, which should be tunable as a function of the given clinical requirements). To mimic the biological environment and tune the different stages of cellular response, a coating with gelatin and chondroitin sulphate via Layer-by-Layer (LbL) assembly was presented and discussed. The resulting functionalized scaffolds were affected by the coating in terms of microstructure and porosity. In addition, the LbL coating significantly enhanced the seeded cell behaviour, with high adhesion, proliferation and osteogenic activity, as revealed by the alkaline phosphatase activity and overexpression of osteopontin and osteocalcin.
Keywords: bone regeneration; glass-ceramics; nano-coating; porous scaffold; surface functionalisation.