Polycaprolactone/carboxymethyl chitosan nanofibrous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering application

Abstract

This research focused on the physical properties and cell compatibility of nanofibrous scaffolds based on polycaprolactone/chitosan (PCL/CTS) and PCL/carboxymethyl chitosan (PCL/CMC) blends for bone tissue engineering application. Scaffolds were fabricated by electrospinning technique. SEM images showed that the undesirable ultrafine and splitting fibers in PCL/CTS scaffolds are eliminated by replacing CTS with CMC. PCL/CMC scaffolds exposed significantly improved surface hydrophilicity improvement comparing to PCL/CTS ones. The water contact angle of PCL scaffold was reduced on the addition of 15% CMC from 123 ± 1° to 51 ± 3° in high concentration of CMC scaffold. The average diameter of fibers in PCL/CTS 15% and PCL/CMC 15% were 439 and 356 nm, respectively, which demonstrated higher concentrations of CMC resulted in decrease fibers diameter than other blended scaffolds. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the composition of PCL/CTS and PCL/CMC scaffolds. The culturing of human osteoblast cells (MG63) on the scaffolds showed that all scaffolds are biocompatible. The PCL/CMC nanofibers exhibited promoting proliferation trend, compared to the PCL and PCL/CTS ones, especially at maximum concentrations of CMC. The results demonstrate that the PCL/CMC electrospun scaffolds can be an excellent candidate for bone tissue engineering application.

Keywords: Bone tissue engineering; Carboxymethyl chitosan; Electrospinning; Nanofibers; Osteoblast cells.