New polysaccharide based hybrid materials for mineralized tissues regeneration

Project leaders

Vincenzo Guarino, Ahmed Samala Mohamed

Agreement

EGITTO - NRC - National Research Centre of Egypt

Call

CNR/NRC biennio 2018-2019 2018-2019

Department

Chemical sciences and materials technology

Thematic area

Chemical sciences and materials technology

Status of the project

New

Research proposal

The development of new methodologies for the synthesis of novel biomaterials on the basis of using green and sustainable molecules as platform for polysaccharides functionalization is a unique opportunity to increase the sustainability of materials chemistry. In this context, polysaccharides have gained recently increasing interest as inexhaustible source for the synthesis of environmentally friendly and biocompatible products in the place of synthetic polymers in biomaterials. During the last decade, they have been also used to design instructive scaffold able to properly support the regeneration of natural tissues. The manipulation of material chemistry and processing technologies allowed improving structural and functional properties of tailor-made devices by the assembly of various materials combination or the ex novo synthesis of new materials with improved functionalities (i.e., bioactivity, biomechanics, etc), thus opening new interesting routes for their application in tissue engineering. In the case of mineralized tissues like bone, current approach mainly involves the use of composite materials able to combine main benefits of polymers matrices (i.e., biodegradability) and inorganic phases (i.e., bioactivity). Indeed, the bone extracellular matrix (bECMs) is essentially a sage mix of organic and inorganic nanocomposites able to properly sustain loads without any rupture. Recent advances in composite materials and nanotechnologies currently allows fabricating novel interesting devices able to promote regeneration of mineralized tissues. The most consolidated strategies concerns in the enhancement of mechanical/biomechanical properties of the polymer matrix by a reinforcement with rigid bioactive particles (i.e. calcium phosphates) which would also improve osteoconductivity of the polymer. In addition to this, tailor-made architectures with peculiar features (i.e., surface-to-volume ratio, porosity, roughness) are required to assure the final success of these materials as scaffolds for the clinical application. Accordingly, new synthesis methodologies and process technologies are emerging to control material and structural properties of the scaffold at micrometric and sub-micrometric scale. In this project in collaboration with the Cellulose and Paper Department: Chemical Industries at the National Research Center (NRC), it is proposed to synthesize different hybrid materials for the design of novel instructive platforms for a guided support to the regeneration of hard tissues, by a proper customization/combination of electrofluid-dynamic techniques (EFDTs). The preparation of hybrid materials by chemical routes will allow to combine bio-recognized polymers such as polysaccharides with micro or nanometric bioactive fillers in order to improve the bioactivity. This will be obtained by the functionalization of polysaccharides (i.e., cellulose, chitosan) through different chemical reactions involving hydroxyl and/or amino groups. In particular, oxidation reaction for free vicinal hydroxyl groups will be optimized in the case of cellulose to generate active aldehyde groups. Subsequent reaction of these groups with amino groups of the amino containing green molecules such as amino acids, peptides and plant proteins will be carried out. Meanwhile, the use of EFDTs will allows for the fabrication of micro/nanostructured scaffolds/microscaffolds able to mimic the structural organization and functionality of the natural ECM of bone. This approach will open to the development of new multicomponent platforms with intrinsic morphological and biochemical cues, able to promote the cascade of cell activities involved in the regeneration (i.e., adhesion, proliferation, mineralization). In particular, a) micro/submicrometric fibres will provide structural stability; b) inorganic nanophases will concur to the bioactivity as well as to the mechanical reinforcement; c) hydrogel-like matrix based on polysaccharides will assure a more efficient transport of mechanical/biochemical signals among cells, as well as a controlled release of bioactive molecules into the 3D culture. In this project, NRC will be mainly involved in the chemical synthesis of new hybrid materials and their chemical/physical characterization. CNR will be mainly involved in the manipulation of produced hybrid materials in the form of scaffold/microscaffolds by EFDTs and their characterization from morphological and mechanical point of view. In the last part of the project, it will be considered to start a preliminary in vitro study to evaluate biological properties on scaffolds prototypes in order to validate the proposed systems as efficient in vitro model for the study of regeneration mechanisms of mineralized tissues. At the end of the project, it is expected that obtained results might be rapidly disseminated in International forums and publications (at least two papers).

References:
Salama A. J. Carbohydr. Chem. 2016;35:131-149
Salama A, et al. Ind. Crop. Prod. 2017;95:170-174
Salama Aet al. J. Nanotechnol. 2014;5:1553-1568
Guarino V., et al Inter Mat Rev 2012 57 (5), 256-275(20)
Guarino V*,et al. J Biomed Mat Res A 2015 Mar;103(3):1095-105
Guarino V et al Tissue Eng A 2009;15(11):3655-68
Guarino V et al.. J Tissue Eng and Reg Med 2014 Apr;8(4):291-303

Research goals

In this project, NRC will be mainly involved in the chemical synthesis of new hybrid materials and their chemical/physical characterization. CNR will be mainly involved in the manipulation of produced hybrid materials in the form of scaffold/microscaffolds by EFDTs and their characterization from morphological and mechanical point of view. In the last part of the project, it will be considered to start a preliminary in vitro study to evaluate biological properties on scaffolds prototypes in order to validate the proposed systems as efficient in vitro model for the study of regeneration mechanisms of mineralized tissues. Understanding and mimicking the design principles of naturally occurring bio-composites is an additional task for the current project as it can pave the way to high performance materials. Therefore, the current project will aim at evaluating the high potential of polysaccharides to form organic/inorganic bio-hybrids with a chemical composition, inorganic crystal phase, crystal organization, processability by EFDTs and biomechanical/biological compatibility for hard tissue regeneration. At the end of the project, it is expected that obtained results might be rapidly disseminated in International forums and publications (at least two papers).

Last update: 20/04/2024