Preparation of elastic chitosan/poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) macroporous scaffolds by acetylation and particulate leaching

For soft tissue engineering applications, 3-D macroporous acetylated chitosan/poly(l-lactideco-e-caprolactone) (PLCL) scaffolds were prepared by acetylation and particulate leaching using sodium acetate in an acidic water/dioxane solution. Acetylated 5 wt% chitosan/PLCL scaffold of 90% porosity was determined and confirmed through various tests. The physiochemical properties of acetylated chitosan/PLCL hybrid scaffolds were examined by measuring water contact angles, pore morphology and interconnectivity using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and dye release testing. In addition, mechanical properties such as tensile strength and bending stress recovery for determining the elasticity of scaffolds were measured. The fibroblast cell line NIH-3T3 was used to test relative cell affinities for the acetylated chitosan/PLCL vs. normal chitosan/PLCL films and porous scaffolds. The acetylated chitosan/PLCL films and scaffolds showed a high initial cell adhesion after 4 h of cell culture and increased cell proliferation compared to that of the control. The acetylated chitosan/PLCL scaffolds produced by particulate leaching showed a highly porous structure and improved the biocompatibility and stability of chitosan compared to that of chitosan-coated PLCL scaffolds. Thus, these scaffolds may be very useful for a variety of tissue engineering applications.