title: Development and characterization of hydroxyapatite/β-TCP/chitosan composites for tissue engineering applications.
abstract: Calcium phosphate ceramics that mimic bone composition provide interesting possibilities for the advancement in bone tissue engineering. The present study reports on a chitosan composite reinforced by hydroxyapatite (HA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) obtained from waste mussel shells and cross-linked using tripolyphosphate (TPP). The ratios of the ceramic components in composites were 20/10/70, 30/20/50 and 40/30/30 (HA/β-TCP/CH, w/w %). Biodegradation rate, structural properties and in-vitro degradation of the bone-like composite scaffolds were investigated. The optimum amount of TPP required for composite was 2.5% and glycerol was used as plasticizer at an optimized concentration of 1%. Tripolyphosphate cross-linked chitosan composites were developed by freezing and lyophilisation. The Young's modulus of the scaffolds was increased from 4kPa to 17kPa and the porosity of composites dropped from 85 to 68% by increasing the HA/β-TCP ratio. After 28days in physiological solution, bone-like composite scaffolds with a higher ratio of HA/β-TCP (e.g. 40/30/30) showed about 2% lower biodegradation in comparison to scaffolds with a lower ratio of HA/β-TCP (i.e. 20/10/70). The obtained data suggest that the chitosan based bone-like composites could be potential candidates for biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Electronic address: amin.shavandi@postgrad.otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Amin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shavandi
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Alaa El-Din A
authors.initials: Ael-D
authors.lastname: Bekhit
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: M Azam
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Zhifa
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Maree
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gould
mesh_terms: D018786:Bone Substitutes / Q000737:chemistry*; D002130:Calcium Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D017886:Durapatite / Q000737:chemistry*; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D018786:Bone Substitutes; D002130:Calcium Phosphates; C485817:beta-tricalcium phosphate; D048271:Chitosan; D017886:Durapatite
keywords: Chitosan; Composite; Hydroxyapatite; Tri-calcium phosphate; Tripolyphosphate