**The Impact of Graphene Oxide on Bone Regeneration Therapies**

Anca Hermenean, Sorina Dinescu, Mariana Ionita and Marieta Costache

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/63333

#### **Abstract**

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cm4007298.

150 Advanced Techniques in Bone Regeneration

C0SM00789G.

Currently, there are several tissue engineering strategies meant to overcome the incomplete or insufficient bone regeneration conditions offered by autologous bone graft or surgery approaches. In the last decade, attention has been focused toward finding the equilibrium between a suitable scaffold with osteoinductive properties, a cell source with evident potential to develop bone tissue and the appropriate proosteogenic factors to condition the differentiation process after cell-scaffold implanta‐ tion. Consequently, this chapter aims to discuss the benefits that graphene and its derivatives, graphene oxide (GO), bring both to the scaffold biomaterial and to the interaction between the material and the cellular component in order to create a favorable micro-environment for efficient osteogenic differentiation process. Several advantages of including GO in the composition of the materials are shown in relation to cell viability, proliferation, attachment, and osteogenic differentiation.

**Keywords:** graphene oxide, bone regeneration, cell-scaffold interaction, cell adhesion, cytocompatibility

### **1. Introduction**

New materials with outstanding osteoinductive properties and abilities to promote osteogen‐ esis at the implant site are constantly developed for bone tissue engineering applications. One of these new-generation materials with documented pro-osteogenic effects is graphene [1–3]. Graphene and its derivatives are nanomaterials with specific physical and chemical proper‐ ties compatible with bone regeneration, and therefore, they possess high potential for bone

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tissue engineering approaches. To date, the information about graphene and its derivatives contribution to bone tissue engineering is relatively limited. In this perspective, superior results were reported after graphene functionalization and immobilization of the derivative on different scaffold biomaterials. This approach was successful probably due to the fact that functional groups can reduce the hydrophobic interactions between graphene and the cellular compo‐ nent [4], thus enhancing improved biocompatibility of the resulted material. In particular, graphene oxide (GO) have been promoted as one of the most valuable graphene derivatives with excellent results in bone regeneration [5, 6]. Nowadays, the beneficial effects of graphene and its derivatives are tested in various biomedical applications—anti-cancer therapy, biosensors, drug delivery, and tissue engineering [7–9].
