Evaluation of the in Vitro Biodegradation and Biological Behavior of Poly(Lactic-Co-Glycolic Acid)/Nano-Fluorhydroxyapatite Composite Microsphere-Sintered Scaffold for Bone Tissue Engineering Publisher



Tahriri M^{1, 2, 3} ; Moztarzadeh F² ; Tahriri A⁴ ; Eslami H⁵ ; Khoshroo K¹ ; Jazayeri HE⁶ ; Tayebi L^{1, 7}
Source: Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymers Published:2018

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the degradation and biological characteristics of the three-dimensional porous composite scaffold made of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/nano-fluorhydroxyapatite microsphere using sintering method for potential bone tissue engineering. Our previous experimental results demonstrated that poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/nano-fluorhydroxyapatite composite scaffold with a ratio of 4:1 sintered at 90ºC for 2 h has the greatest mechanical properties and a proper pore structure for bone repair applications. The weight loss percentage of both poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/nano-fluorhydroxyapatite and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffolds demonstrated a monotonic trend with increasing degradation time, that is, the incorporation of nano-fluorhydroxyapatite into polymeric scaffold could lead to weight loss in comparison with that of pure poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid). The pH change for composite scaffolds showed that there was a slight decrease until 2 weeks after immersion in simulated body fluid, followed by a significant increase in the pH of simulated body fluid without a scaffold at the end of immersion time. The mechanical properties of composite scaffold were higher than that of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffold at total time of incubation in simulated body fluid; however, it should be noted that the incorporation of nano-fluorhydroxyapatite into composite scaffold leads to decline in the relatively significant mechanical strength and modulus during hydrolytic degradation. In addition, MTT assay and alkaline phosphatase activity results defined that a general trend of increasing cell viability was seen for poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/nano-fluorhydroxyapatite scaffold sintered by time when compared to control group. Eventually, experimental results exhibited poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/nano-fluorhydroxyapatite microsphere-sintered scaffold is a promising scaffold for bone repair. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.