Comparative Study of Carboxymethyl Tamarind Seed Powder Coated Chitosan/Montmorillonite/Hydroxyapatite Composite Macrosphere Scaffolds

Abstract

Over the years biopolymer based composites have been replacing synthetic polymer based composites for various biomedical applications.This is attributed to the highly biocompatible and biodegradable nature of the natural polymers.Several studies have been reported pertaining to development of chitosan(CS)/montmorillonite(MMT)and CS/hydroxyapatite(HA)composites for application in bone tissue regeneration.In the present work a CS/MMT/HA composite was developed for the fabrication of sintered macrospheric three dimensional(3D)scaffolds.Further the composite scaffolds were coated with carboxymethyl tamarind seed powder(CTSP).The scaffold fabrication method is based on direct agglomeration of the sintered macrospheres.The described method allows fabrication of porous scaffolds with controllable shape and pore size distribution.The CS/MMT/HA composite 3D scaffolds were characterized using X-ray diffraction(XRD),attenuated total reflectance-fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).The scaffolds were further evaluated for their in vitro bioactivity,hemocompatibility,protein adsorption,water adsorption and degradation.The mechanical properties were evaluated by analysing the compressive strength.The XRD pattern confirmed the presence of the individual components in the composite scaffolds.The ATR-FTIR studies confirms the presence of molecular interaction among the various constituents of the composite.The SEM micrographs show the pore size and the interconnectivity of the scaffolds.The CS/MMT/HA composites show enhanced in vitro biological properties as compared to plain chitosan as well as CS/HA and CS/MMT composites.The CS/MMT/HA composite scaffolds showed significant improvement in the compressive as compared to the other samples.The present work deals with fabrication of chitosan composite scaffolds with well controllable and predictable internal architecture and geometry that has potential application in bone tissue engineering.