Hydrogels fabricated from natural polysaccharides may serve as ideal scaffolds for tissue engineering because of their similarity to the extracellular matrices. In this study, novel hydrogel scaffolds with bubble-like porous structure were prepared from hydroxyethyl chitosan (HECS) and cellulose (CEL) by a combination of chemical crosslinking, particle-leaching using silicon dioxide particles as porogen and freeze-drying method. The morphology, compression stress-strain curves, wettability, and swelling and rheological behaviors of the HECS/CEL scaffolds were characterized by SEM, mechanical test, contact angle measurement and rheometer. HECS/CEL scaffolds had good comprehensive performances and could reach equilibrium swelling state in water within 20s. The results from in vitro biocompatibility evaluated using SEM, live/dead cell viability and MTT assays demonstrated that the HECS/CEL scaffolds could well support the attachment, spreading and proliferation of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells and showed good biocompatibility. Therefore, the novel HECS/CEL scaffolds may be promising for bone tissue engineering applications.
Keywords: Bubble-like porous structure; Cellulose; Hydrogel scaffold; Hydroxyethyl chitosan; In vitro biocompatibility.
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