Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan-Based Scaffolds for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Porous chitosan/brushite composite scaffolds were prepared by a freeze-drying technique, starting from brushite suspensions in chitosan solutions. The obtained scaffolds showed a regular macroporous and interconnected structure with brushite particles uniformly distributed in the chitosan matrix. The variation of the brushite concentration affected the microstructure of the final freeze-dried scaffold, in particular, its porosity and its average pore size. The yield strengths of the composite scaffolds could also be improved by the increase of the brushite content.