ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:Bioactive glass, a multi-phase composite material, has good biological activity, bone conductivity and biocompatibility, but as a bone repair material it cannot be completely degraded, and has low mechanical strength that is insufficient. OBJECTIVE:To design a kind of bioactive glasses/chitosan composite scaffold, and to investigate its physicochemical properties and cellcompatibility. METHODS:Hydrochloric acid solution containing 2.0%chitosan was mixed withβ-glycerophosphate at a radio of 7:1 to prepare chitosan solution. Bioactive glasses of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 g were added into the prepared chitosan solution, and the mass ratios of chitosan and bioactive glass were 2:1, 1:1, and 1:1.5 respectively. The composite materials were immersed and mineralized in simulated body fluid for 7 days. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Scanning electron microscopy showed that the composite scaffold had an interconnected porous structure with the porosity of 89%and the pore size of 100-300μm;bioactive glasses dispersed in a needle shape between the chitosan scaffolds, arranged evenly, and were ful y wrapped tightly by the scaffolds. With the increase in mass of bioactive glass, the porosity of the composites decreased, but the fracture strength gradual y increased. There was a positive correlation between the composite porosity and fracture strength. X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed that the composite scaffold appeared to have no changes in the nature of single materials, and differential scanning calorimetry analysis showed no mass loss at normal body temperature. After 3 days of mineralization, hydroxyapatite forming on the material surface gradual y grew up as a vil ous shape, and also significantly increased in number. After 7 days of mineralization, hydroxyapatite changed from a vil ous shape to a needle shape, the amount of hydroxyapatite was increased further, and many mineralized products were in a spherical shape.