Characterization of hydroxyapatite/silk fibroin/chitosan scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering

Abstract

© 2018 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland. Tissue engineering (TE) is a modern medical approach to reconstruct damage tissue in a shorter period. Scaffold is the main structure for cells adhesion and provides 3D space for cell proliferation and growth. Biomaterials were selected to fabricate a scaffold according to properties and target tissues. In this study, Hydroxyapatite (HA), Silk Fibroin (SF), and Chitosan (CS) were selected to fabricate the scaffold in different combination ratios by freeze drying (FD) technique. According to the physical properties of the fabricated scaffold, cartilage tissue was selected as a study target area for the future medical application. Scaffold characterization was performed to observe the scaffolds properties in each materials ratio. In this study, CS scaffold provided highest abilities which related to cartilage tissue structure. Moreover, the combination of SF in CS provided highest ability for cartilage cell proliferation in vitro. Therefore, CS could be used as a cartilage scaffold for cartilage TE and SF could be added to increased the cells viability of the scaffold.