Fabrication of porous and biologically inspired biomaterials that mimic the formation of microstructural structures of nacre in the form of calcite (CaCO3) and evaluation of the biocompatibility of such organic-inorganic composite scaffold for bone tissue engineering, are focus of this paper. Nacre's self-assembly characteristics are concerned about the development of calcite filled biomineralized scaffold following the nature based biomineralization process and biomimetic applications. The PVP-CMC hydrogel film, comprised of PVP:0.2, CMC:0.8, PEG:1.0, Agar:2.0, Glycerene:1.0 and water:95.0 w/v%; acts as catalyst and template for the nucleation and growth of the inorganic CaCO3 within the scaffold. The PVP-CMC hydrogel (in the dry state) was immersed in ionic solutions (g/100 ml) of Na2CO3 and CaCl2·H2O in different concentrations sets i.e. Set-1: 10.50/14.70; Set-2: 5.25/7.35; Set-3: 4.20/5.88; Set-4: 2.10/2.94; Set-5: 1.05/1.47, Set-6: 0.55/0.55 for 90 min. As a result, "PVP-CMC-CaCO3" hydrogel scaffold was fabricated having bio-inspired structural and functional properties. Cell proliferation and cell viability were examined until 7 days in the presence of "PVP-CMC-CaCO3" scaffolds using permanent cell lines MG63 (human osteosarcoma), L929 (murine fibroblasts) as well as cultures from mouse bone explants (CC-MBE), confirmed that the said hydrogel scaffolds are biocompatible. But, from mechanical strength as well as biocompatibility point of view, scaffolds prepared in Set-1 to 3 ionic solutions were superior. In conclusion, these three calcite filled hydrogel scaffolds are recommended and can be used for osseointegration.

Biomaterial and Tissue Engineering Laboratory Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati 781 039 Assam India

Centre of Polymer Systems Tomas Bata University in Zlin Tř T Bati 5678 760 01 Zlin Czech Republic

Department of Pathology Institute of Experimental Morphology Pathology and Anthropology with Museum Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Acad Georgi Bonchev Str Bl 25 Sofia 1113 Bulgaria

Department of Physical Chemistry Ruđer Bošković Institute Bijenička cesta 54 10000 Zagreb Croatia

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