Abstract
Calcium phosphate ceramics that mimic bone composition provide interesting possibilities for the advancement in bone tissue engineering. The present study reports on a chitosan composite reinforced by hydroxyapatite (HA) and beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP) obtained from waste mussel shells and cross-linked using taipolyphosphate (TPP). The ratios of the ceramic components in composites were 20/10/70,30/20/50 and 40/30/30 (HA/beta-TCP/CH, w/w %). Biodegradation rate, structural properties and in-vitro degradation of the bone-like composite scaffolds were investigated. The optimum amount of TPP required for composite was 2.5% and glycerol was used as plasticizer at an optimized concentration of 1%. Tripolyphosphate cross-linked chitosan composites were developed by freezing and lyophilisation. The Young's modulus of the scaffolds was increased from 4 kPa to 17kPa and the porosity of composites dropped from 85 to 68% by increasing the HA/beta-TCP ratio. After 28 days in physiological solution, bone-like composite scaffolds with a higher ratio of HA/beta-TCP (e.g. 40/30/30) showed about 2% lower biodegradation in comparison to scaffolds with a lower ratio of HA/beta-TCP (i.e. 20/10/70). The obtained data suggest that the chitosan based bone-like composites could be potential candidates for biomedical applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.