Hydroxyapatite/collagen coating on PLGA electrospun fibers for osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract The architecture and composition of bone tissue engineering scaffolds play important roles in modulating the growth of bone tissue. Composite fibers composed of poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) skeleton coated with hydroxyapatite (HA) or hydroxyapatite/collagen (HA/Col) were successfully produced via electrospinning, biomimetic process, and adsorption. The PLGA skeleton fabricated by electrospinning process with a nanofibrous structure (diameter ranging from 200 to 400 nm) showed a morphologic similarity to the extracellular matrix (ECM). SEM, EDX, and XRD analysis confirmed the presence of HA and Col on the composite fibers. Mesenchymal stem cells were used to evaluate the cellular behaviors including cell attachment and spreading, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation on these fibers (PLGA, PLGA/HA, and PLGA/HA/Col). The results demonstrated that the HA and HA/Col coating improved the interaction between mesenchymal stem cells and the composite fibers reflected by accelerated cell spreading, increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and enhanced expression of osteogenic‐related genes. The HA/Col coating was more effective in improving this interaction compared with HA coating. The PLGA/HA/Col composite fibers may be promising as a candidate scaffold for bone tissue engineering. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 2863–2870, 2018.