The Use of Injectable Chitosan/Nanohydroxyapatite/Collagen Composites with Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Promote Ectopic Bone Formation In Vivo

Table 1

Major molecular components and microstructure of CS/nHAC as compared with natural bone. The molecular components, the mineralization of collagen fibrils, and the arrangement of mineralized collagen fibrils are the first, the second, and the third hierarchical levels in natural bone, respectively.

	CS/nHAC	Natural bone
Major molecular components	HA, collagen, phosphate, and carbonates	HA, water, collagen, and other proteins
Mineralization of collagen fibrils	Small HA crystals associated with collagen fibrils orienting their 𝑐-axis	Plate-like HA crystals associated with collagen fibrils orienting their 𝑐-axis
Arrangement of the mineralized collagen fibrils	Associated as bundles, aligned along their long axis	Associated as bundles, often aligned along their long axis