Hydroxyapatite-magnetite-MWCNT nanocomposite as a biocompatible multifunctional drug delivery system for bone tissue engineering

New magnetic hydroxyapatite-based nanomaterials as bone-specific systems for controlled drug delivery have been synthesized. The synthesized hydroxyapatite, HA, decorated with magnetite nanoparticles by a deposition method (HA/Fe3O4) and the nanocomposite system obtained using magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotubes (HA/MWCNT/Fe3O4) as a filler for HA have been characterized by chemical and morphological analyses, and their biological behavior was investigated. The systems have also been doped with clodronate in order to combine the effect of bone biomineralization induced by hydroxyapatite-based composites with the decrease of osteoclast formation induced by the drug. An analysis of the preosteoclastic RAW264.7 cell proliferation by MTT assay confirmed the high biocompatibility of the three systems. TRAP staining of RAW 264.7 conditioned with sRAKL to induce osteoclastogenesis, cultured in the presence of the systems doped and undoped with clodronate, showed the inhibitory effect of clodronate after we counted the MNC TRAP(+)cells but only in the osteoclast formation; in particular, the system HA/Fe3O4-Clo exerted a high inhibitory effect compared to the drug alone. These results demonstrate that the synthesized nanocomposites are a biocompatible magnetic drug delivery system and can represent a useful multimodal platform for applications in bone tissue engineering.