Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Bone tissue engineering scaffolds develops from autologous bone, cartilage materials to bioactive ceramics, even organic material collagen and other extracellular matrix, their biocompatibility and performance become more and more excellent, close to in vivo conditions. However these materials need to improve anti-compression and strength.
OBJECTIVE: To prepare biological scaffolds by adjusting the proportion of collagen and chitosan, to test biological characteristics and to offer a graft for bone and cartilage defect.
METHODS: Chitosan and collagen protein were melted by different ratios, then the materials were freeze-dried after UV cross-linking to prepare scaffolds by twice freeze-dry. The porosity, degradation rate, swelling ratio of the scaffolds at different proportions were determined. The particle size and distribution were observed by scanning electron microscope.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The prepared scaffold was sponge and porous. The aperture of the scaffold was negatively related with the collagen content. The collagen had less impact on the overall porosity with the increased ratio of collagen. The swelling rate can reach about 80%, swelling degree of the scaffold was reduced with the increasing proportion of collagen. The toughness degree and degradation rate increased with the collagen ratio up. The higher chitosan content, the slower degradation rate. Adjusting collagen and chitosan ratio could make the scaffolds as a substitute for the bone and cartilage defect transplantation.