Hydrogel based matrices and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) are well established materials in bone tissue engineering. Nevertheless, there is still a challenge to design appropriate composites with enhanced mechanical properties and improved cell growth. Progressing in this direction, we synthesized nanocomposite hydrogels by impregnating TiO2 NPs in a chitosan and cellulose-based hydrogel matrix containing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), to enhance the mechanical stability and swelling capacity. Although, TiO2 has been incorporated into single and double component matrix systems, it has rarely been combined with a tri-component hydrogel matrix system. The doping of NPs was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering. Our results showed that incorporation of TiO2 NPs improved the tensile properties of the hydrogels significantly. Furthermore, we performed biological evaluation of scaffolds, swelling degree, bioactivity assessment, and hemolytic tests to prove that all types of hydrogels were safe for use in the human body. The culturing of human osteoblast-like cells MG-63 on hydrogels showed better adhesion of cells in the presence of TiO2 and showed increasing proliferation with increasing amount of TiO2. Our results showed that the sample with the highest TiO2 concentration, CS/MC/PVA/TiO2 (1 %) had the best biological properties.

Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Karlovarská 48 301 66 Pilsen Czech Republic

Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences Heyrovského nám 2 162 06 Prague Czech Republic

New Technologies Research Centre University of West Bohemia Univerzitní 8 301 00 Pilsen Czech Republic

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Engineering of Bioresorbable Polymers for Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery Applications