Surface Modification of Polycaprolactone Scaffold via Immobilized Carboxymethyl Chitosan for Bone Tissue Engineering Application

Introduction & Objectives: Bone as a mineral tissue is involved in the mechanical protection of organs and the maintenance of mineral homeostasis. Following bone defects caused by degenerative diseases and trauma, many patients are not fully treated. For this purpose, bone tissue engineering with the aim of repairing damaged mineral tissue has been considered with offering new solutions. Synthetic polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer with properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability can be a good choice as a scaffold manufacturer. However, due to the hydrophobic nature of PCL, cell adhesion is not well performed, which can be remedied by the use of carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC). In this study, CMC was immobilized by chemical method on electrospun PCL scaffolds for bone tissue engineering application.Materials & methods: First, the PCL scaffold was fabricated using electrospinning process. Then, the CMC was chemically immobilized on the PCL scaffold. To confirm the immobilization of CMC, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was performed then a scanning electron microscope (SEM) image was taken from the PCL/CMC scaffold. To evaluate the biocompatibility of the scaffold, human mesenchymal stem cells were cultured on the scaffold for 24 h. Finally, Alizarin red staining was performed to evaluate the differentiation of hMSCs toward bone for 7 days.Results: The results of SEM images and FTIR test showed that the immobilized CMC was well on the PCL scaffold. The images of hMSCs next to the scaffold showed that the cells were adapted to the scaffold and had better growth and proliferation on the immobilized scaffolds. Alizarin staining results confirmed the differentiation of hMSCs toward bone.Conclusion: According to the results, this synthetic scaffold can be used as a suitable candidate for bone defects repair in bone tissue engineering.

کلیدواژه ها:

Carboxymethyl chitosan ، Polycaprolactone ، Immobilization ، Human mesenchymal stem cells ، Bone tissue engineering