Nanoparticle reinforced microporous methacrylated silk fibroin hydrogel to promote bone regeneration

Natural polymers-based hydrogels have been widely applied in bone tissue engineering due to their excellent biocompatibility and the outstanding ability of drug encapsulation. However, they have relatively low mechanical properties and lack of bioactivity. Hence, we developed a bioactive nanoparticle composite hydrogel by incorporating the laponite, which is an osteo-inductive inorganic nanoparticle. The incorporation of the nanoparticle significantly increased mechanical properties. In vitro evaluation indicated that the nanocomposite hydrogel was capable of good biocompatibility. Besides, the nanocomposite hydrogel was proved to have excellent osteogenic ability with up-regulated expression of osteogenic markers such as COL-I, Runx-2 and OCN. Furthermore, the in vivo study confirmed that the SFMA-LAP nanocomposite hydrogel could significantly promote new bone formation, providing a prospective strategy for bone tissue regeneration.