Nanoporous scaffold fabrication for biomedical application by employing probe sonication

Abstract

The study aimed to develop nanoporous scaffolding (NPS) for various biomedical applications. NPS was developed using hydrophilic, biodegradable polymers by employing the lyophilization method. Four different gel bases of chitosan (Molecular weight: 85,000 Da), methylcellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (K4M), and polyvinyl alcohol (Molecular weight: 1,25,000 Da) of 3% were prepared, respectively using a fluorescent dye. The dye-loaded gels were divided into three samples, one for probe sonication, one for bath sonication, one for centrifugation, and were coded as Sample A, Sample B, and Sample C, respectively. The gel bases were transferred into a 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube, sample A was probe sonicated at 30% amplitude for 10 min. Sample B was subjected to bath sonication for 30 min and sample C was centrifuged to remove the excess air bubbles. Prepared samples were lyophilized for 48 h. The lyophilized samples were assessed with respect to porosity, pore visualization analysis by fluorescent microscopy. Further pore size and volume of the optimized batch of the scaffold were determined using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The process of probe sonication resulted in the formation of NPS. The porosity was more in the case of sample A (probe sonicated sample) compared to samples B and C. The BET analysis of the sample showed pores size of < 2 nm.