Developing Collagen Hydrogel Including Bioactive Glass Nanoparticles for being used in Bone Tissue Engineering

Numerous bone disorders and injuries, such as osteoporosis, are among the most  spreading types of human tissue injuries worldwide, and the available treatments for these injuries are often insufficient and inefficient. Nowadays a lot of attention has been paid to the regenerative medicine, specifically tissue engineering because of its unique features. The extracellular matrix is a key component in tissue engineering because it must have specific properties to support cell survival and proliferation. Natural and synthetic polymeric hydrogels are among the materials commonly employed in tissue engineering. Because the extracellular matrix of bone is particularly mineralized and has a high elasticity, various nanoparticles are commonly utilized to improve the mechanical properties of polymeric hydrogels. In this study, first we extracted the collagen type I from rat tail and characterized it with FTIR spectrum and self-assembly, second we synthesised the bioactive glass nanoparticles and characterized them with XRD and EDAX. Then we developed a polymeric collagen hydrogel (3 mg/ml) scaffold, including bioactive glass nanoparticles (3 %w/v) which increase the mechanical properties of the scaffold (103 pa elastic modulus) in comparison to those of the collagen scaffold (0% w/v nanoparticles), that can be used for bone tissue engineering applications.