Performance of 3D Tissue Engineering Scaffolds of Nanocellulose/High Cationic Polymers Composite

Abstract

Three- dimensional(3D) tissue engineering scaffolds were prepared by compounding nanocellulose with polyacrylic cationic polymer and polyethylene amine cationic polymer respectively.The structural morphology of the scaffolds was characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The influence of the relative molecular mass and dosages of the polymers on the pore structure of the scaffolds was investigated, while a new method for fast measuring the porosity of the scaffolds was established based on SEM image processing. The water retention value(WRV) of the scaffolds was also measured. Results show that the porosity of all the nanocellulose 3D tissue engineering scaffolds is larger than 90%. The porosity value obtained by the new image processing method is close to that measured according to Archimedes principle with a difference less than 5%, which indicated that this method was reliable. All the 3D scaffolds have high WRV(200%). Both the porosity and WRV of the 3D scaffolds can be adjusted by varying the species and dosage of polymers. Therewith the nanocellulose 3D tissue engineering scaffolds may optionally be prepared to meet the requirement for tissue and cell culture.