Effect of chitosan concentration on the properties of PLA/β-TCP scaffold produced by combination of solvent casting and salt leaching techniques

Abstract

Polylactic acid (PLA)/beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) porous scaffold was fabricated using solvent casting and salt leaching. This scaffold is facing problems such as relatively low compressive strength and high brittleness. In order to overcome this problem, natural polymer coated porous scaffold was introduced. In this study, PLA/β-TCP scaffold was coated with four different concentration of chitosan (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% w/v). It was found chitosan coated scaffold has higher compressive strength compared to that of uncoated scaffold. The compressive strength of PLA/β-TCP coated with 1.5% w/v of chitosan indicates the highest compressive strength (0.49 MPa), which is 35% increament compared to the uncoated scaffold. Morphological observation by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that highly porous three-dimensional scaffold with well interconnected porous structure could be achieved by coated and uncoated scaffolds. The results reveal that the scaffold coated with chitosan layer achieves a highly interpenetrated polymer and scaffold network, potentially leading to a porous scaffold with higher mechanical strength and toughness.