Electrospinning has been recognized as an efficient technique for fabricating polymer nanofibrous biomaterials However, the study of electrospun inorganic biomaterials with well-designed three-dimensional (3-D) structures is still limited and little reported. In this study hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanorods with an average diameter of similar to 7 nm and length of similar to 27 nm were synthesized through a simple precipitation method and used for the fabrication of inorganic/organic [poly(vinyl pyrolidone) (PVP)] composite nanofibers by electrospinning in ethanol solution 3-D fabrics and aligned nanofiber arrays of the HAP nanorods/PVP composite were obtained as precursors. Thereafter, 3-D single phase HAp fabrics, tubular structures and aligned nanofiber arrays were obtained after thermal treatment of the corresponding composite precursors Cytotoxicity experiments indicated that the HAP fabric scaffold had good biocompatibility In vitro experiments showed that mesenchymal stern cells could attach to the HAp fabric scaffold after culture for 24 h (C) 2010 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved