Synthesis and characterisation of hydrogel based composites for bone regeneration

Abstract

The current gold standard treatment for bone defects are biological grafts. Due to the inherent disadvantages for these biological grafts, a new synthetic alternative are being sought. Tissue engineering has shown great potential to replace the current treatments, due to its ability to provide structural support to the defect while promoting cellular attachment, proliferation and migration to help the formation new bone tissue. In this study, novel biocomposites of polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) and hydroxyapatite (HaP) were prepared via photopolymerisation. The objective of this study was to understand the effects of varying hydroxyapatite concentration had on the mechanical and thermal properties of the resultant biocomposite. The prepared hydrogel based composites were characterised by compression testing, gel fraction, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and swelling studies. Compression strength were tailored by very hydroxyapatite concentration (5 wt%-17.5 wt%). For example, variation in HaP concentration (A0-A17.5) resulted in an increase in Young’s modulus from 5.41 MPa to 5.89 MPa.