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Characterization of bionanocomposite scaffolds comprised of amine‐functionalized gold nanoparticles and silicon carbide nanowires crosslinked to an acellular porcine tendon
Author(s) -
Deeken Corey R.,
Fox Derek B.,
Bachman Sharon L.,
Ramshaw Bruce J.,
Grant Sheila A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part b: applied biomaterials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1552-4981
pISSN - 1552-4973
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.b.31819
Subject(s) - materials science , biocompatibility , biomedical engineering , extracellular matrix , nanomaterials , tendon , tissue engineering , collagenase , dermis , nanotechnology , chemistry , anatomy , medicine , biochemistry , metallurgy , enzyme
As one of the most common proteins found in the human body, collagen is regarded as biocompatible and has many properties making it ideal for soft‐tissue repair applications. However, collagen matrices fabricated from purified forms of collagen are notoriously weak and easily degraded by the body. The extracellular matrix of many tissues including human dermis, porcine dermis, and porcine small intestine submucosa are often utilized instead, and several of these scaffolds are crosslinked. Crosslinking has been shown to improve the mechanical properties of collagenous tissues and increase their resistance to degradation. In this study we investigated two novel “bionanocomposite” materials in which either gold nanoparticles or silicon carbide nanowires were crosslinked to a porcine tendon. Scanning electron micrographs confirmed that the nanomaterials were successfully crosslinked to the tissues. A collagenase assay, tensile testing, flow cytometry, and bioreactor studies were also performed to further characterize the properties of these novel materials. The results of these studies indicated that crosslinking porcine diaphragm tissues with nanomaterials resulted in scaffolds with improved resistance to enzymatic degradation and appropriate biocompatibility characteristics, thus warranting further study of these materials for soft tissue repair and tissue engineering applications. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2011.