Strontium doped nanohydroxy apatite/reduced graphene oxide nanohybrid is speed up osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells

Graphene based nanocomposites have been used to improve the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells. In this research study, the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets were used as the base material while decorated with strontium doped hydroxyapatite (rGO/HAP/Sr). X-ray differentiation (XRD) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to evaluate the size and morphology of the HAP/Sr decorated rGO. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) was used to analyze the nanocomposites’functional groups. Raman spectroscopy was used to investigate the possible disorders in rGO/HAP/Sr structure and the number of layers. Ion-coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) was used for evaluating the atomic concentrations of the elements (Ca and Sr) in nanocomposites. Likewise, zeta potential of the nanocomposite was determined to be -18.9 mV. To evaluate the cytotoxicity of the nanocomposites, MTT assay was performed. The osteo-inductive potential of the synthesized rGO/HAP/Sr nanocomposites was investigated using the adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADCs). Osteogenic differentiation was confirmed by measuring the calcium content. The results revealed that the nanocomposites concentrations induce calcium deposition by cells, indicating that the bone differentiation was done successfully. Lastly, it can be concluded that, this nanocomposite, alone, can be used for bone differentiation induction without using any chemical inducers.