Preparation and properties of polycaprolactone porous bone scaffold modified with chitosan/ hydroxyapatite on the surface

Abstract

Porous polycaprolactone (PCL) bone scaffolds were prepared by selective laser sintering and chitosan/hydroxyapatite(CS/HA) suspension was prepared by in situ synthesis. The CS/HA was attached to the surface of the PCL scaffold by vacuum immersion, low speed centrifugation and freezing gel, to improve the biocompatibility and cell proliferation activity of the PCL scaffolds. The phase and porous structure of the composite scaffolds were observed by X ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The compressive strength and Young's modulus of the scaffolds were measured, the water contact angles on the surface of the scaffolds were measured and the biological properties of the composite scaffolds were studied by in vitro cell experiments. The experimental results show that hydroxyapatite (HA) is prepared by in situ synthesis, and CS/HA gel adhered well to the surface of PCL bone scaffold. The hydrophilicity of the surface of the PCL scaffold is improved by CS/HA, and the biocompatibility and cell proliferation activity of them are greatly enhanced.

Keywords

• polycaprolactone-chitosan/hydroxyapatite(PCL-CS/HA)
• bone scaffold
• surface modifica-tion
• selective laser sintering(SLS)
• <i>in situ</i> synthesis
• frozen gel