Biodegradable nanofibrous scaffold designed for cell growth, tissue recovery

Iranian nanomaterial experts in association with pharmaceutical researchers succeeded in designing biodegradable nanofibrous scaffold by using bioactive glass nanoparticles, which is appropriate for cell growth and tissue recovery in the treatment of injured bone tissues. The product of this plan has applications in medical fields after the preparation and after passing the complementary in vitro tests as drug carrying scaffold and bioactive agents to grow bone cell and to cure the injured bone tissues. In order to improve the mechanical properties and bioactivity of the nanofibers, bioactive glass nanoparticles were added while simvastatin drug (aiming to speed up the growth of the bone tissue) was loaded in the fibers to increase the efficiency of the scaffold. Years ago, Hench et al showed that bioactive glasses had good ability to make bonds with bone tissue, and they made desirable joint with the bone. Results of other researches display that simvastatin (the drug to reduce cholesterol in blood) has positive effect on bone metabolism. Therefore, it was decided that these two materials are combined with polycaprolactone nanofibers in this research to produce a nanofibrous scaffold suitable for the bone tissue. In this research, polycaprolactone composite nanofibers loaded with simvastatin drug and bioactive glass nanoparticles were produced through electrospinning method, and their biological and mechanical properties were investigated in laboratorial and also in human’s body simulated media. Results of biodegradability and drug delivery tests showed that the presence of glass nanoparticles increase the degradability of the nanofiber web in body’s simulated media due to their hydrolysis ability in aqueous environment. Therefore, more drug is released in comparison with the nanofibers without nanoparticles. One of the recent results of the research has been published on 15 July 2013 in Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 228, pp. 1057-1065.