LAUSR

Biomimetics offers excellent prospects for design a novel generation of improved biomaterials. Here we explore the controlled integration of graphene oxide (GO) derivatives with a 3D marine spongin (MS) network to nanoengineer novel smart bio-based constructs for bone tissue engineering. Our results point out that 3D MS surfaces can be homogeneously coated by layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of oppositely charged Polyethyleneimine (PEI) and GO. Notably, the GOPEI@MS bionanocomposites presented a high structural and mechanical stability under compression tests in wet conditions (shape memory). Dynamic mechanically (2 hours of sinusoidal compression cyclic interval (0.5Hz, 0-10% strain)/14 days) stimulated GOPEI@MS seeded with osteoblast (MC3T3-E1), showed a significant improvement in bioactivity, with cell proliferation being two times higher than under static conditions. Besides, the dynamic assays showed that GOPEI@MS bionanocomposites were able to act as mechanical stimulus-responsive scaffolds able to resemble physiological bone extracellular matrix (ECM) requirements by strongly triggering mineralization of the bone matrix. These results prove that the environment created by the system cell-GOPEI@MS is suitable for controlling the mechanisms regulating mechanical stimulation-induced cell proliferation for potential in vivo experimentation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.