In vitro degradation of chitosan composite foams for biomedical applications and effect of bioactive glass as a crosslinker

Abstract

In tissue engineering applications, 3D scaffolds with adequate structure and composition are required to provide durability that is compatible with the regeneration of native tissue. In the present study, the degradation of novel flexible 3D composite foams of chitosan (CH) combined with bioactive glass (BG) was evaluated, focusing on the role of BG as a physical crosslinker in the composites, and its effect on the degradation process. Highly porous CH/BG composite foams were obtained, and an elevated degradation temperature and lower degradation rate compared with pure chitosan were observed, probably as a result of greater intermolecular interaction between CH and BG. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) data suggest that hydrogen bonds were responsible for the physical crosslinking between CH and BG. The results confirm that CH/BG foams can combine controllable bioactivity and degradation behavior and, therefore, could be useful for tissue regeneration matrices.