Trigonella foenum graecum seed polysaccharide coupled nano hydroxyapatite-chitosan: A ternary nanocomposite for bone tissue engineering

Biomimetic nanocomposites containing hydroxyapatite and natural polymers are promising candidates for bone grafting. In this work, a tricomponent bioactive nanocomposite (nHA-CH-TFSP) assembling nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA), Chitosan (CH) and Trigonella foenum graecum seed polysaccharide (TFSP) was developed using co-precipitation method and investigated against bicomponent nHA-CH nanocomposite for bone tissue engineering. In contrast to nHA-CH nanocomposite, nHA-CH-TFSP nanocomposite exhibited rough and interconnected porous structure as revealed by SEM with the porosity (603 +/- 0.17) lying in the range of cancellous bone. The incorporation of TFSP in nHA-CH substantially enhanced the in vitro water absorption capacity and protein adsorption ability along with appropriate biodegradation rate. Additionally, the nHA-CH-TFSP nanocomposite exhibited superior antibacterial activity. The nHA-CH-TFSP evinced a compressive strength of 6.7 +/- 0.24 MPa and a compressive modulus of 100 +/- 1.4 MPa, which fulfill the strength requisite of cancellous bone and could provide strong support for the growth of osteoblasts cells. Furthermore, the in vitro bioactivity study demonstrated its excellent biomineralization capacity in comparison to nHA-CH. The synthesized nHA-CH-TFSP nanocomposite exhibited better cytocompatibility towards the MG-63 cells along with its haemocompatible nature. Taken together the results of the present study indicate that nHA-CH-TFSP could serve as a prospective analogue for bone tissue engineering. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved,