Evaluation of physicochemical, mechanical and biological properties of chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose reinforced with multiphasic calcium phosphate whisker-like fibers for bone tissue engineering

Abstract

In this study porous scaffolds of chitosan (CS) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) reinforced with whisker-like biphasic and triphasic calcium phosphate fibers were fabricated by freeze drying method. The effect of addition of CMC, fiber type and content on the mechanical, physicochemical and biological properties of the composite scaffolds was evaluated. The fibers were synthesized by homogenous precipitation method and were characterized. Biphasic fibers contained two phases of hydroxyapatite (HA) and monetite, and triphasic fibers consisted of HA, β-tricalcium phosphate and calcium pyrophosphate and were 20–270 μm and 20–145 μm in length, respectively. The composite scaffolds exhibited desirable microstructures with high porosity (61–75%) and interconnected pores in range of 35–200 μm. Addition of CMC to CS led to a significant improvement in the mechanical properties (up to 150%) but did not affect the water uptake ability and biocompatibility. Both fibers improved the in vitro proliferation, attachment and mineralization of MG63 cells on scaffolds as evidenced by MTT assay, DAPI staining, SEM and Alizarin red staining. Triphasic fibers were more effective in reinforcing the scaffolds and resulted in higher cell viability. Composite scaffolds of CS and CMC reinforced with 50 wt% triphasic fibers were superior in terms of mechanical and biological properties and showed compressive strength and modulus of 150 kPa and 3.08 MPa, respectively, which is up to 300% greater than pure CS scaffolds. The findings indicate that the developed composite scaffolds are potential candidates for bone tissue engineering although they need further enhancement in mechanical properties.