The Effect of Processing Parameters and Solid Concentration on the Microstructure and Pore Architecture of Gelatin-Chitosan Scaffolds Produced by Freeze-Drying

Abstract

One of the main components for being successful in tissue engineering is developing a scaffold with an appropriate architecture for allow migration, cell proliferation, and differentiation. A gelatin-chitosan scaffold by vacuum freeze-drying has been developed for tissue engineering applications. The effects of solid concentration and freezing processing on the scaffold morphology and porous size were investigated. As the chitosan content was increased the viscoelastic properties of pigskin gelatin was modified, the maximum G' values were lower than the values for pure gelatin solution, and the thermal transition points also occurred at lower temperatures, as well as a decrease of pore size tendency was observed and the scaffold visibly increased porosity, the structure scaffold was observed with an interconnected and more homogeneous pore matrix. The pore sizes become smaller and pore walls thinner, while interconnectivity increases along with declining pre-freezing temperature. The chitosan-gelatin scaffold will be a promising candidate in tissue engineering.

Keywords

• tissue engineering
• cell proliferation
• interconnected pore matrix