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Abstract

Development of Magnetic Chitosan Scaffolds with Potential for Bone Regeneration and Cancer Therapy †

CICECO—Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Presented at the Materiais 2022, Marinha Grande, Portugal, 10–13 April 2022.
Mater. Proc. 2022, 8(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008026
Published: 23 May 2022
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of MATERIAIS 2022)
There is a high demand for the development of new strategies to treat malignant bone tumors and to regenerate bone defects produced by tumor resection. Based on bone tissue engineering (BTE), novel multifunctional bioactive 3-D scaffolds, that can simultaneously address the regeneration of bone defects and eradicate residual cancer cells, are a potential approach to fulfill this urgent need.
In this study it was proposed to develop magnetic chitosan-based scaffolds with potential to simultaneously promote bone regeneration and kill residual cancer cells by thermal hyperthermia. Chitosan was selected as the main matrix due to its suitable properties for BTE, such as biocompatibility, antibacterial, and osteogenic behaviour [1]. However, it possesses poor mechanical properties, having a low elastic modulus [2]. Therefore, in our experiments, magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NP) were incorporated in the chitosan matrix to achieve several purposes: (1) to increase the scaffold mechanical strength, (2) to potentiate osteogenesis, and (3) to be used as heat mediators in magnetic hyperthermia therapy (MHT) for cancer treatment. With these purposes, the scaffolds were produced with different chitosan concentrations (1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5% w/v). The effect of NP incorporation on the scaffold properties was also assessed. The freeze-drying technique enabled production of highly porous scaffolds (porosity > 80%) which meet the required porosity for BTE applications. Scaffold porosity decreased as chitosan concentration increased. Porosities of around ~95% and ~83% were achieved for chitosan at 2 and 2.5% w/v respectively. Scaffolds with 2.5% w/v chitosan had the highest Young’s modulus and enhanced toughness, indicating that reducing the porosity improved the mechanical response. Spherical Fe3O4 NP (9 nm), synthetized by co-precipitation with a specific loss power of 98 W/g, were incorporated (10% w/w) in the 2% w/v chitosan matrix without affecting the scaffold porosity. Furthermore, the mechanical properties were significantly improved, with an increase from 0.68 to 1.08 MPa in the Young’s modulus and from 16.5 to 23.3 MPa for toughness, compared to pristine chitosan scaffolds.
Overall, these results confirm the ability to produce highly porous scaffolds, containing 10% w/w of Fe3O4 NP, with suitable mechanical properties and porosity by freeze-drying. These properties support proposing chitosan scaffolds with Fe3O4 NP for BTE.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, J.G., P.F. and C.N.; methodology, J.G.; formal analysis, J.G.; investigation, J.G., P.F. and C.N.; writing—original draft preparation, J.G.; writing—review and editing, P.F. and C.N.; supervision, P.F. and C.N.; project administration, C.N. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO—Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020, UIDP/50011/2020 & LA/P/0006/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC (PIDDAC). The authors acknowledge FCT/MEC for the financial support of the project “Coccolitho4BioMat” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031032). J.G. and P.F. thank FCT for the grants 2020.06654.BD and IF/00300/2015, respectively. C.N. is grateful to Portuguese national funds (OE), through FCT, I.P., within the scope of the framework contract foreseen in numbers 4, 5 and 6 of Article 23 of the Decree-Law 57/2016 of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017 of July 19.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

  1. Saravanan, S.; Leena, R.S.; Selvamurugan, N. Chitosan based biocomposite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 2016, 93, 1354–1365. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  2. Turnbull, G.; Clarke, J.; Picard, F.; Riches, P.; Jia, L.; Han, F.; Li, B.; Shu, W. 3D bioactive composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Bioact. Mater. 2018, 3, 278–314. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
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MDPI and ACS Style

Gonçalves, J.; Ferreira, P.; Nunes, C. Development of Magnetic Chitosan Scaffolds with Potential for Bone Regeneration and Cancer Therapy. Mater. Proc. 2022, 8, 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008026

AMA Style

Gonçalves J, Ferreira P, Nunes C. Development of Magnetic Chitosan Scaffolds with Potential for Bone Regeneration and Cancer Therapy. Materials Proceedings. 2022; 8(1):26. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008026

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gonçalves, Joana, Paula Ferreira, and Cláudia Nunes. 2022. "Development of Magnetic Chitosan Scaffolds with Potential for Bone Regeneration and Cancer Therapy" Materials Proceedings 8, no. 1: 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008026

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