A three-layered nano-carbonated hydroxyapatite/collagen/PLGA composite membrane for guided tissue regeneration.

Functional graded materials (FGM) provided us one new concept for guided tissue regeneration (GTR) membrane design with graded component and graded structure where one face of the membrane is porous thereby allowing cell growth thereon and the opposite face of the membrane is smooth, thereby inhibiting cell adhesion in periodontal therapy. The goal of the present study was to develop a three-layered graded membrane, with one face of 8% nano-carbonated hydroxyapatite/collagen/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (nCHAC/PLGA) porous membrane, the opposite face of pure PLGA non-porous membrane, the middle layer of 4% nCHAC/PLGA as the transition through layer-by-layer casting method. Then the three layers were combined well with each other with flexibility and enough high mechanical strength as membrane because the three layers all contained PLGA polymer that can be easily used for practical medical application. This high biocompatibility and osteoconductivity of this biodegraded composite membrane was enhanced by the nCHAC addition, for the same component and nano-level crystal size with natural bone tissue. The osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured on the three-layered composite membrane, the primary result shows the positive response compared with pure PLGA membrane.