INCORPORATION AND RELEASE OF HAMAMELIS VIRGINIANA IN “SCAFFOLDS” PRECURSOR MATRIX: AN APPROACH WITH THE “THIN PLATE SPLINE” INTERPOLATION METHOD

Abstract

In recent years, tissue engineering has been developing methodologies to potentialize the regeneration of injured tissues, such as using biomaterials to obtain scaffolds performing the controlled release of drugs. The polymers polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB) and chitosan (CHI) have been used in the production of matrices applied to scaffold production. This study aims to produce and evaluate matrices containing different proportions of PHB and CHI using the compression molding technique. These matrices can form scaffolds after drug incorporation of Hamamelis virginiana (HV).  In order to predict the swelling of the matrices, the Thin Plate Spline Interpolation method (TPSIM) was used to generate three-dimensional data fitted, showing the influence of time and concentration variables on drug absorption. Results show that the percentage of CHI in the samples determines the swelling degree of the matrices. According to scanning electron microscopy analyses, increasing this polymer's quantity modifies the matrix's morphology, making it more heterogeneous. The sample with 50% by weight composition of CHI showed better-swelling results and samples loaded with HV demonstrated drug release ability. Thus, the obtained matrices have great potential to work as scaffolds and drug delivery systems, and therefore, they are promising products for application in tissue engineering.