Study of the cell responses in tantalum carbide nanoparticles-enriched polysaccharide composite hydrogel.

Salecan is a linear microbial polysaccharide obtained from the fermentation of Agrobacterium sp. ZX09. Salecan is suitable for the preparation of hydrogels for biomedical applications, given its prominent physicochemical and biological properties. Herein, we described a novel microwave-assisted polymerized composite hydrogel that was comprised of salecan/poly(diacetone acrylamide) (PDAAm) network and tantalum carbide (TaC) nanoparticles. The incorporation of TaC nanoparticles into the composite hydrogels was confirmed by XRD and EDX analysis, and can be engineered as means for structural reinforcement, thus leading to a remarkable improvement in their thermal stability and mechanical properties. Compared to bare salecan/PDAAm hydrogel, >9.3-fold increase in compressive modulus and 7-fold increase in storage modulus were achieved with the addition of 3 mL of TaC nanoparticles dispersion (5%, w/v). More importantly, cytotoxicity results revealed that the composite hydrogels were non-toxic to L929 and 3T3-L1 cells. Cell proliferation and Live/Dead staining demonstrated that salecan/PDAAm/TaC composite hydrogels provided a desired environment for cell adhesion, and allowed proliferation at the normal rate. All the results highlight the value of this system for potential application as cell adhesion material.