Belgrade : Institute of Technical Sciences of SASA
Abstract
In recent years, scientists have been working on developing biocompatible materials that closely mimic the structure and properties of natural biological tissues for their application in hard tissue regeneration and controlled drug release. Human bones and teeth primarily consist of calcium-phosphate crystals with small amounts of various ions incorporated into their crystal structure. The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of processing macroporous bioceramic scaffolds based on calcium-hydroxyapatite (HAp) doped with magnesium (Mg), strontium (Sr) and fluorine (F) ions, subsequently coated with polymer chitosan. In this study, the doped HAp powder was synthesized by a hydrothermal process, and scaffolds were made using the sponge replica method, sintered and then coated with the chitosan. The influence of dopant ions and chitosan on the scaffold's microstructure, mechanical properties, bioactivity, cytotoxicity and drug release properties was examined. Energy dispersive spectroscopy confirmed that Mg and Sr are incorporated in all powder samples, while the presence of F was confirmed in samples synthesized with 1 and 2 mol.% F in the precursor solution. The phase composition of powders and scaffolds determined by X-ray analysis showed the presence of HAp and β-tricalcium phosphate phase (β-TCP) in scaffolds. In the compressive strength (CS) test, coated scaffolds showed significantly higher CS compared to uncoated scaffolds. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the morphology of nanostructured powders, microstructure, and the bioactivity of the scaffolds. The uncoated scaffolds showed satisfactory bioactivity after being immersed in simulated body fluid for 28 days, while lower bioactivity was observed in the coated scaffolds due to the slow degradation of chitosan. The synthesized scaffolds also demonstrated to have a positive impact on cell viability, even slightly stimulating the cell proliferation. Additionally, scaffolds were shown to successfully release drug. In concusion, the addition of ions and chitosan polymer significantly improved the properties of the obtained scaffolds, which indicates their potential application in tissue engineering and controlled drug release.Twenty-First Young Researchers’ Conference - Materials Science and Engineering: Program and the Book of Abstracts; November 29 – December 1, 2023, Belgrade, Serbi
