Improved Mechanical Properties of PVA-Chitosan Polymeric Porous Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering

Highly porous HA scaffolds were synthesized from bioceramics by using the polyurethane (PU) sponge template method. The as-prepared HA scaffolds were then fabricated with poly (vinyl alcohol)/chitosan (PVA/CS) and collagen/chitosan (COL/CS) polymeric materials at 4:1 ratio in coating and 2-phase atmospheric condition. Further, the porous microstructure of fabricated biomaterials were characterized by FE-SEM and mechanical properties were tested by using Shimadzu Compact Tabletop Testing Machine EZTest. It was revealed from the study that incorporation of PVA/CS or COL/CS polymeric materials into pure HA scaffolds either coating or 2-phase condition enhanced the mechanical properties of fabricated biomaterials significantly. Biocompatibility of fabricated biomaterials were checked by culturing Human Mesenchymal Stem cell (hMSC) for a period of 7 days over the prepared scaffolds and it was found that hMSC responded well and grown excellently over the all specimens of fabricated scaffolds. Finally, the results revealed that maximum stress value (0.77 MPa) was obtained from HA-PVA/CS 2-phase with cell samples of 7 days culture and followed by HA-PVA/CS coating with cell (0.75 MPa) due to formation of extra cellular matrix (ECM) reinforcement which allowed specimens undergo densification and stress continued to increase.