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Tailored material for bioresorbable internal fixation devices: a novel approach using nanohydroxyapatite and chitosan in polylactic acid

  • Materials for life sciences
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Abstract

The drawbacks associated with metallic implants, like stress shielding and revision surgery, can be avoided using bioabsorbable implants. Hence, in this work, biocomposites made of different compositions of polylactic acid (PLA), nanohydroxyapatite (nHap), and modified chitosan (MCS) were prepared. The prepared biocomposite was subjected to X-ray diffraction, surface morphology, differential scanning calorimetry, contact angle analysis, thermogravimetric, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and mechanical characterisation. The field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that the drawback of non-uniform distribution associated with chitosan (CS) had been overcome with the MCS. The maximum degradation temperature obtained with the biocomposite developed in the present investigation was higher (389 °C) than with neat PLA and PLA with chitosan. Thus, the interaction of nHAp with MCS and PLA made the fabricated biocomposites superior in terms of thermal stability. The contact angle study showed an enhancement in the surface wettability property, suggesting that the prepared biocomposites are suitable for cell adhesion. The study found PLA/nHAp/MCS composite to have better modulus and elongation as compared to PLA and PLA/nHAp. Also, the characterisation of the materials showcased better physiochemical properties with PLA/nHAp/MCS biocomposite. Moreover, the DSC results confirmed that no phase separation has occurred in the formed biocomposites. Thus, the developed biocomposites have the potential to be an alternative biodegradable implant material, especially for fabricating bone screws and plates to be used as non-load bearing internal fixation devices.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the experimental and instrumental facility provided by the Centre for Sustainable Polymers and CIF at IIT Guwahati, India. The first author acknowledges the contribution of SERB-FICCI and ORTHOTECH, India, towards the fellowship received under the Prime Minister’s Fellowship for Doctoral Research. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Gourhari Chakraborty and Dr. Siddharth M. Bhasney for their insightful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, India

    Devleena Bose & Vimal Katiyar

  2. Centre for Sustainable Polymers, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, India

    Varatharajan Prasannavenkadesan & Vimal Katiyar

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  1. Devleena Bose
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  2. Varatharajan Prasannavenkadesan
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  3. Vimal Katiyar
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Contributions

D.B. contributed to conceptualisation, experimentation, data analysis, manuscript writing—first draft, and manuscript writing—review draft. V.P. contributed to data analysis and manuscript writing—review draft. V.K. contributed to data validation, conceptualisation, and supervision.

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Correspondence to Vimal Katiyar.

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Bose, D., Prasannavenkadesan, V. & Katiyar, V. Tailored material for bioresorbable internal fixation devices: a novel approach using nanohydroxyapatite and chitosan in polylactic acid. J Mater Sci 59, 215–227 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-09110-1

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