Fabrication and characterization of chitosan/poly(ε-caprolactone)poly(lactide)porous scaffolds

The chitosan(CS)/poly(ε-caprolactone)(PCL)poly (lactide) (PLA) scaffolds were prepared by phase separation method with the glacial acetic acid as the co-solvent for polymers, NaOH solvent as the quenching bath and chitosan(CS) as the additives. The effect of mass ratio on the structure, morphology, porosity, mechanical and degradation properties of the scaffolds was studied. The results show that there is a stronger interaction between CS and matrix. CS is beneficial for forming 3D interconnected micro-pore structure. The existent of CS can decrease the melting point of each component in the matrix. The pore size and microstructure morphology change with the mass ratio of PCL to PLA varied. The porosity reaches above 90% when the ratio of PCL∶PLA is 2∶4 and 3∶3, and decreases dramatically when further increasing the ratio of PCL. The compression test indicates that the elastic modulus of prepared scaffolds is between 0.8~8.0MPa. Degradation analysis indicates that when the ratio of PCL∶PLA is 3∶3, the mass loss reaches a maximum of 5.94% after 4 weeks. These results indicate that the fabricated scaffolds have a potential application for cartilage bone tissue engineering. The expectation 3D porous scaffolds with designable properties such as degradation speed, mechanical strength can be achieved through changing the ratio of PCL∶PLA by precipitation method.