Electrospun preparation and biological properties in vitro of polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate/nano-hydroxyapatite composite fiber membrane.

The composite fiber membrane of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/sodium alginate (SA)/nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAP) was fabricated by electrospinning method. In order to prevent the agglomeration and precipitation of nHAP in aqueous spinning solution, nHAP was ultrasonically suspended in aqueous solution using SA (the component of composite membrane) as stabilizer. The effect of nHAP on the morphology and mechanical property of composite fiber membrane was investigated. The in vitro biological properties including hemolysis, cytotoxicity, cell adhereing and proliferation of composite fiber membrane were evaluated. Results show that SA stabilized nHAP (SA-nHAP) suspension (1.67-10.02 mg/mL) can be obtained with SA/nHAP mass ratio of 1:33.4 for preparing homogeneous spinning solution. The electrospun membranes with PVA/SA/nHAP mass ratio of 9.33:(0.67-0.69):(0-0.668) show good fiber morphology, homogeneous incorporation and distribution of nHAP in fibers, and the content of SA-nHAP (6.25 wt%) in membrane is significantly increased compared to that of untreated nHAP (3.23 wt%). The incorporation of SA-nHAP of 1.64 wt.% significantly improves the tensile strength of PVA/SA/nHAP fiber membrane with about 45% enhancement. The hemolysis and cytotoxicity tests show that the composite fiber membrane has good biocompatibility. Moreover, cells can be seeded and proliferate well on composite fiber membrane. Therefore, the obtained PVA/SA/nHAP composite fiber membrane has the potential use as a tissue regeneration material.