Preparation and Characterization of HAp Coated-Chitosan-Alginate PEC Porous Scaffold For Bone Tissue Engineering

Abstract

This thesis reports the development of 3D porous hybrid scaffold using chitosan-alginate polyelectrolyte complex (CAPEC) by freeze drying method. The CaCl2 cross-linked CAPEC scaffold was further coated with synthesized HAp by dip coating technique. The HAp synthesis was done by wet chemical precipitation method in organic solvent i.e. ethanol. The average particle size of synthesized HAp was found to be ~159 nm. The CAPEC and HAp coated-CAPEC (CAPEC/HAp) scaffolds were assessed for their porosity, pore size, morphology, mechanical strength, swelling behavior, in-vitro biodegradation. The pore size and morphology of developed scaffolds was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) & no apparent change in pore size was found in case of CAPEC/HAp. Both the scaffolds possessed desired pore size with interconnected pore network. Whereas, the porosity was decreased with the increase in HAp coating, but it is still high enough for bone tissue engineering application. The mechanical strength of CAPEC scaffold increased with the coating of HAp, compressive strength was increased from 0.469 MPa to 0.61 & 0.67 MPa. The CAPEC/HAp scaffolds also exhibited favorable swelling behavior and biodegradation. Overall, the study has demonstrated that for non-load bearing bone tissue engineering applications, the developed CAPEC/HAp scaffolds do have the potential use.