Perez-Moreno, AntonioReyes-Peces, María de las Virtudesde Los Santos, Deseada MaríaPinaglia-Tobaruela, Gonzalode la Orden, EmilioVilches-Pérez, José IgnacioSalido, MercedesPiñero, Manuelde la Rosa-Fox, Nicolás2022-10-182022-10-182020-11-26Perez-Moreno A, Reyes-Peces MV, de Los Santos DM, Pinaglia-Tobaruela G, de la Orden E, Vilches-Pérez JI, et al. Hydroxyl Groups Induce Bioactivity in Silica/Chitosan Aerogels Designed for Bone Tissue Engineering. In Vitro Model for the Assessment of Osteoblasts Behavior. Polymers. 2020 Nov 26;12(12):2802http://hdl.handle.net/10668/4255Silica (SiO2)/chitosan (CS) composite aerogels are bioactive when they are submerged in simulated body fluid (SBF), causing the formation of bone-like hydroxyapatite (HAp) layer. Silica-based hybrid aerogels improve the elastic behavior, and the combined CS modifies the network entanglement as a crosslinking biopolymer. Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)/CS is used as network precursors by employing a sol-gel method assisted with high power ultrasound (600 W). Upon gelation and aging, gels are dried in supercritical CO2 to obtain monoliths. Thermograms provide information about the condensation of the remaining hydroxyl groups (400-700 °C). This step permits the evaluation of the hydroxyl group's content of 2 to 5 OH nm-2. The formed Si-OH groups act as the inductor of apatite crystal nucleation in SBF. The N2 physisorption isotherms show a hysteresis loop of type H3, characteristic to good interconnected porosity, which facilitates both the bioactivity and the adhesion of osteoblasts cells. After two weeks of immersion in SBF, a layer of HAp microcrystals develops on the surface with a stoichiometric Ca/P molar ratio of 1.67 with spherulite morphology and uniform sizes of 6 μm. This fact asserts the bioactive behavior of these hybrid aerogels. Osteoblasts are cultured on the selected samples and immunolabeled for cytoskeletal and focal adhesion expression related to scaffold nanostructure and composition. The initial osteoconductive response observes points to a great potential of tissue engineering for the designed composite aerogels.enAtribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/AerogelsBiomaterialsFracture toughnessHydroxyapatite (HAp)Bone tissue engineeringOsteoinductionOsteoblastsChitosanFocal adhesionsMateriales biocompatiblesOsteoblastosQuitosanoMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Macromolecular Substances::Polymers::Biopolymers::Chitin::ChitosanMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Inorganic Chemicals::Minerals::Silicon DioxideMedical Subject Headings::Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment::Investigative Techniques::Culture Techniques::Cell Engineering::Tissue EngineeringMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Inorganic Chemicals::Carbon Compounds, Inorganic::Carbon DioxideMedical Subject Headings::Phenomena and Processes::Physical Phenomena::Mechanical Phenomena::PorosityMedical Subject Headings::Anatomy::Cells::Cellular Structures::Cell Membrane::Cell Membrane Structures::Cell-Matrix Junctions::Focal AdhesionsMedical Subject Headings::Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment::Investigative Techniques::ImmersionMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Inorganic Chemicals::Acids::Acids, Noncarboxylic::Phosphorus Acids::Phosphoric Acids::Phosphates::Calcium Phosphates::Apatites::HydroxyapatitesMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Complex Mixtures::Colloids::GelsMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Inorganic Chemicals::Calcium Compounds::Calcium Phosphates::ApatitesMedical Subject Headings::Technology and Food and Beverages::Technology, Industry, and Agriculture::Manufactured Materials::NanostructuresMedical Subject Headings::Anatomy::Fluids and Secretions::Body FluidsMedical Subject Headings::Anatomy::Cells::Connective Tissue Cells::Osteoblastsresearch article33256226Acceso abierto10.3390/polym121228022073-4360PMC7760707