Formation of Calcium Phosphate-Ellagic Acid Composites by Layer by Layer Assembly for Cellular Attachment to Osteoblasts

Abstract

The quest for new biomaterials to serve as cell scaffolds for applications in tissue engineering is of prime importance. In this work, we investigated microfiber assemblies of Ellagic Acid (EA), a plant polyphenol to serve as scaffolds for attachment and proliferation of osteoblasts. The advantage of Ellagic Acid self-assembling system is its intrinsic ability to order into multiple layers due to its capability to form liquid crystalline assemblies. We prepared ellagic acid-microfiber composites by the layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly method, where collagen (COL), poly-Arginine (poly-R), and calcium phosphate nanocrystals were coated on the surface of ellagic acid microfibers. The attachment of the various layers was confirmed by various spectroscopic and microscopic methods. The samples were found to be porous with an average pore size of 600 nm. The formed microconjugates were biodegradable and supported the growth of human fetal osteoblast (hFOB) cells in vitro. Our findings suggest that this system not only promotes initial cell adhesion but also can be utilized to deliver the vital biological molecule ellagic acid to cells at the scaffold interface and displays a new strategy for the design of biomaterials.