Porous Nanocomposite Comprising Ultralong Hydroxyapatite Nanowires Decorated with Zinc‐Containing Nanoparticles and Chitosan: Synthesis and Application in Bone Defect Repair

: Hydroxyapatite nanowires exhibit a great potential in biomedical applications owing to their high specific surface area, high flexibility, excellent mechanical properties, and similarity to mineralized collagen fibrils of natural bone. In this work, zinc-containing nanoparticle-decorated ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowires (Zn-UHANWs) with a hierarchical nanostructure have been synthesized by a one-step solvothermal method. The highly flexible Zn-UHANWs exhibit a hierarchical rough surface and enhanced specific surface area as compared with ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowires (UHANWs). To evaluate the potential application of Zn-UHANWs in bone regeneration, the biomimetic Zn-UHANWs/chitosan (CS) (Zn-UHANWs/CS) composite porous scaffold with 80 wt % Zn-UHANWs was prepared by incorporating Zn-UHANWs into the chitosan matrix by the freeze-drying process. The as-prepared Zn-UHANWs/CS composite porous scaffold exhibits enhanced mechanical properties, highly porous structure, and excellent water retention capacity. In addition, the Zn-UHANWs/CS porous scaffold has a good biodegradability with the sustainable release of Zn, Ca, and P elements in aqueous solution. More importantly, the Zn-UHANWs/CS porous scaffold can promote the osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells and facilitate in vivo bone regeneration as compared with the pure CS porous scaffold or UHANWs/CS porous scaffold. Thus, both the Zn-UHANWs and Zn-UHANWs/CS porous scaffold developed in this work are promising for application in bone defect repair.