Improved Mechanical Strength, Degradation, and Antibacterial Property of a Novel Degradable Bilayered Composite Membrane Composed of a Bamboo Fiber and Nanohydroxyapatite/poly(lactide-co-glycolide) Loaded with Vancomycin

To obtain an ideal guided bone regeneration (GBR) membrane, in this study, a novel degradable bilayered composite membrane loaded with vancomycin (VCM) was constructed by an electrospun layer of nanohydroxyapatite/poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (n-HA/PLGA) and a casting layer of a bamboo fiber (BF). The effects of different addition methods and contents of n-HA and VCM on the structure, hydrophilicity, tensile strength, degradation, drug release, antibacterial properties, and cell proliferation of the composite membrane were investigated. Results indicated that the electrospun layer and the casting layer were closely combined by a chitosan (CS) adhesive solution, and the addition of higher n-HA content into PLGA as the electrospun layer was advantageous to improve the hydrophilicity of the composite membrane and slow down the degradation. Moreover, the BF casting layer endowed the composite membrane with better tensile strength, especially the introduction of VCM into a CS solution displayed better bone-like apatite deposition, faster drug release rate, and better cell proliferation than that into the electrospun layer, so that it presented better antibacterial effect. All results demonstrated that the degradable n-HA-PLGA/BF bilayered composite membrane loaded with VCM in the CS adhesive solution displayed appropriate mechanical strength, degradation, antibacterial properties, and biocompatibility, which had great promise to be used as a GBR membrane.