Development and characterization of hydroxyapatite/β-TCP/chitosan composites for tissue engineering applications

Calcium phosphate ceramics that mimic bone composition provide interesting possibilities for the advancement in bone tissue engineering. The present study reports on a chitosan composite reinforced by hydroxyapatite (HA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) obtained from waste mussel shells and cross-linked using tripolyphosphate (TPP). The ratios of the ceramic components in composites were 20/10/70, 30/20/50 and 40/30/30 (HA/β-TCP/CH, w/w %). Biodegradation rate, structural properties and in-vitro degradation of the bone-like composite scaffolds were investigated. The optimum amount of TPP required for composite was 2.5% and glycerol was used as plasticizer at an optimized concentration of 1%. Tripolyphosphate cross-linked chitosan composites were developed by freezing and lyophilisation. The Young's modulus of the scaffolds was increased from 4kPa to 17kPa and the porosity of composites dropped from 85 to 68% by increasing the HA/β-TCP ratio. After 28days in physiological solution, bone-like composite scaffolds with a higher ratio of HA/β-TCP (e.g. 40/30/30) showed about 2% lower biodegradation in comparison to scaffolds with a lower ratio of HA/β-TCP (i.e. 20/10/70). The obtained data suggest that the chitosan based bone-like composites could be potential candidates for biomedical applications.