Properties of a chitosan tubular scaffold prepared by lyophilization / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:The principle of lyophilization is to sublimate the solvent of frozen materials in vacuum and retain the solute, thus making a pore structure. OBJECTIVE: To produce a chitosan tubular scaffold by lyophilization, and to test its physicochemical properties. METHODS: The chitosan tubular material was prepared by lyophilization method, folowed by gross observation and electron microscopic observation. The chitosan tubular material samples were placed into PBS solution and pure water for 50 days, respectively, and then immersed in trypsin liquid for 1 day folowed by embedded into the muscle and dorsal skin of neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats for 30 days. The degradation rate and porosity of the material were observed and calculated. The breaking strength and compressive strength of the material were determined both under drying and soaking conditions using tensile instrument and pressure meter, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The external form of the chitosan tubular material was normaly tubular. Under the electron microscope, it was composited by different size pores, and the pore size was 50-200μm. The degradation rates of the material were (5.33±0.12)% in PBS, (11.26±0.15) in water, 0.012% in the trypsin liquid and (35.2±3.7)in vivo. The porosity rate was (97.5±1.5)%. The breaking strength and compressive strength of the material was higher under the drying state than under the soaking state (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that the lyophilization method can produce the chitosan tubular material with good porosity rate and degradation rate as wel as good tensile ability and compressive capability.