Nanocomposites based on bacterial cellulose in combination with osteogenic growth peptide for bone repair: cytotoxic, genotoxic and mutagenic evaluations

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose membranes functionalized with hydroxyapatite or collagen with addition or not of osteogenic growth peptides (OGP) or its C-terminal pentapeptide OGP[10-14] were developed for improving bone repair. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential cytotoxic, genotoxic and mutagenic effects of those nanocomposites in order to know whether they would be safe for biomedical applications. All nanocomposites (BC, BC-HA, BC-Col, BC-HA OGP, BC-Col-OGP, BC-HA OGP[10-14] and BC-Col-OGP[10-14]) were prepared as discs (5 mm in diameter) and submitted to in vitro tests in 24-well plates seeded with CHO-K1 cells. Cell viability was evaluated by the XTT assay and reproductive cell death was detected by the clonogenic assay. Genotoxicity was assessed by the comet assay and the cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus (CBMN) assay was used to detect mutagenicity. Only BC-HA OGP[10-14] showed a slight mutagenic effect, all other nanocomposites materials demonstrated no cytotoxic, genotoxic or mutagenic effects. In conclusion, the BC-HA OGP [10-14] promoted a slight mutagenic effect and future studies must be investigated for better understanding this result. The utilization of the investigated materials is promising for biomedical applications, such as bone repair and tissue engineering.