Effect of Amount of Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and Thermal Treatment Temperature on Mechanical and Biological Properties of Gelatin-Calcium Phosphate Scaffolds

Background and Aim: Clinical demands for bone regeneration continuesto rise due to trauma; cancer; infection; and arthritis. Nowadays, the mostimportant topic is developing of complete bioactive three- dimensional(3D) composite scaffold in bone tissue engineering (BTE) which canregenerate bone damages successfully. Variety of materials have beenutilized to create novel alternatives instead of conventional ones whichhad some disadvantages.Methods: In the present work, gelatin-calcium phosphate compositescaffolds were produced via solvent casting and freeze-drying methods.Amount of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and temperature of thermaltreatment were two factors in which considered as the variations.Synthesizing reinforcing particles were decorated with SiO44- to increasebioactivity and osteoconductivity and then were surface modified byGelatin solution with the aim of forming a good interface between twophases. Finally, gelatin-glutaraldehyde solution and TEOS sol were usedas two different coatings on scaffolds.Results: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), three-point bendingtest, simulated body fluid (SBF), and differential thermal analysis (DTA)coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), allowed us to detect the structure and behavior of the scaffold. According to SEManalyze, there is an interconnected network of pores in the range size ofsome microns to 200 micrometers. These scaffolds also have considerablemechanical properties from 2 to 5 MPa. Bioactivity analysis illustratedthat the interactions of the materials support the apatite formation in SBF.Decoration and surface modification of glass-ceramic particles weretotally effective in increasing bioactivity and final strength respectively.Scaffolds which were coated with TEOS sol had more final strengthwhile, the other ones had more toughness According to DTA results,thermal treatment of glass particles in 1100-degree centigrade cause thecrystallization of which, enhance mechanical properties, and decreasethe osteoconductivity in SBF.Conclusion: Although all of the scaffolds have been had good behavior indifferent tests, the scaffold which was produced with a lower temperatureof thermal treatment and lower amount of TEOS in particles, is the bestchoice for bone regeneration in bone tissue engineering.

کلیدواژه ها:

Bone tissue engineering ، Polymer ceramic scaffold ، Thermal treatment