Biological characterization of macro-porous chitosan scaffolds associated to different mineral phases for bone regeneration

Abstract

The development of scaffolds for mineralized tissues regeneration by cell homing is an innovative alternative aimed at the establishment of minimally invasive therapies capable to accelerate tissue repair and regeneration. For that, the development of bioactive composition and an architectural pattern capable of favoring the infiltration and interaction of precursor cells, along with angiogenesis, is crucial. Thus, this project has a proposal to associate simple and cost-effective technologies to develop chitosan scaffolds containing a bioactive mineral phase and present a macro-architecture composed of an interconnected network of pore and channels. In the first phase, chitosan scaffolds in association with calcium hydroxide, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, and calcium silicate will be formulated by bubbling effect technique, in order to stablish compositions with an organized and interconnected macro-porous network. Scaffold´s architecture, chemical composition, ion release, and wettability will be assessed to select formulations. The biological characterization will be performed by cultivating an osteoblastic cell lineage (SAOS-2) onto scaffolds, and by cultivating the cells with extracts collected from the materials. Therefore, direct cell-material interaction and its modulation potential at distance will be evaluated, an essential characteristic for cell homing therapies. Qualitative data will be descriptively analyzed and quantitative data will be submitted to specific statistical analysis.(AU)