Alginate/hydroxyapatite hydrogel as biodegradable in situ forming scaffold

Abstract

The injectable polymer scaffolds are important biomaterials for tissue engineering and drug delivery. Hydrogels derived from natural proteins and polysaccharides are ideal tissue engineering scaffolds since they resemble the extracellular matrices of the tissue comprised of various amino acids and sugar based macromolecules. This work present an injectable system from partially oxidiaed alginate and HA (hydroxyapatite) for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications. In situ release of calcium cations from nano HA particles was adopted through lowering the pH with slow hydrolysis of GDL (D-glucono-δ-lactone) and homogeneous alginate gels were formulated as scaffolds with defined dimensions. The gelation time and the mechanical properties of the system can be controlled by the compositional variables. The SEM observations confirmed a porous 3D hydrogel structure with interconnected pores ranging from 20 to 100 µm and the nano HA particles dispersed in the scaffolds uniformly. The potential applications such as injectable drug delivery vehicle and tissue engineering scaffold are envisaged for this polymer scaffol