Evaluation of Polyether sulfone/nanohydroxyapatite nanofiber composite as bone graft materials

Nanofiber mats of polyether sulfone/nano hydroxyapatite (PES/nHA) were prepared by electrospinning technique. The fabricated composites were characterized using FTIR, XRD and SEM. The composite nanofiber mats were subjected to in vitro biological studies namely bioactivity, haemocompatibility and cytocompatibility. The XRD analysis showed an increase in the amorphous nature of the composite with the addition of nHA (filler) suggesting an interaction between the polymer matrix and the filler. The bioactivity studies performed using Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) showed that the bioactivity was observed to be higher in the composites containing nHA. It was observed that the amount of protein (Bovine Serum Albumin) adsorption as well as the blood coagulation decreased with the addition of the filler content which improved in turn the cell adhesion and proliferation of osteoblast (MG-63) cells. The in vivo studies, performed on a pilot scale by implantation of the PES/nHA in the tibia of rabbits, suggested an intense inflammatory host response. Hence from the study, it was concluded that although PES/nHA showed promising in vitro properties, their unfavuorable in vivo response meant that these composites need to be analysed further to determine the reason behind that inflammatory response and the means of overcoming it.