Surface characterization of completely degradable composite scaffolds

The goal of this study was to characterise the surface properties of completely degradable composite, polylactic acid and calcium phosphate glass, scaffolds. The composite scaffolds are made by solvent casting or phase-separation, using chloroform and dioxane as a solvent respectively. The surface properties were measured on composite films which were made using the same procedure as for the three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds without the pore-creating step. The surface morphology, roughness, wettability and protein adsorption capacity of the films was measured before and after sterilisation with ethylene oxide. The results reveal the influence of solvent type, glass weight content and sterilisation on the wettability, surface energy and protein adsorption capacity of the materials. The addition of glass particles increase the hydrophylicity, roughness and protein adsorption capacity of the surface. This effect, however, depends on the extent of the coating of the glass particles by the polymer film, which is much higher for dioxane films than for chloroform films. This information can be used to interpret and understand the biological behaviour of the 3D scaffolds made of this composite materials.