Comparison of additive effects on the PVA/starch cryogels: Synthesis, characterization, cytotoxicity, and genotoxicity studies

The research goal of this study is to produce suitable scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. Different ratios of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/starch (90:10, 70:30, 50:50) and crosslinking methods have been used to prepare cryogels. Chemically crosslinked cryogels were synthesized using glutaraldehyde as the crosslinking agent. For the physically crosslinked cryogels, sodium dodecyl sulfate was used during cryogelation as the foaming agent. Chemical structure and pore morphology were demonstrated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Swelling ratio and degradation profile of the scaffolds were also determined. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazoyl-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and SEM were used to investigate the biocompatibility of the scaffolds and cell morphology. Genotoxicity test was performed to show DNA fragmentation. The overall results demonstrated that PVA/starch cryogels could have potentially appealing application as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications and additives affect the architecture and characteristic properties of the cryogels.