Fabrication of in-situ foamed chitosan/β-TCP scaffolds for bone tissue engineering application

Abstract The present work describes the manufacturing process of biodegradable porous material for bone tissue engineering application. The matrixes were produced by chemical foaming of chitosan solutions (CH). The method was based on CO2 release directly in the polymer by means of reaction between acetic acid and sodium bicarbonate acting as a foaming agent. The method allowed obtaining the materials with pores ranging from 10 to 1000 μm and inner porosity close to 90%. The degradability of the materials was influenced by TCP content and decreased with extending inorganic phase contribution. Along with calcium phosphate content the Young modulus values were enclosed in the range of 0.02–0.5 MPa. Preliminary cytocompatibilty studies revealed cell affinity of the materials manufactured.