Novel biodegradable scaffolds for bone and cartilage repair

A novel biodegradable scaffold was prepared by utilizing polymer microspheres as the building blocks for scaffold formation. This saffold can be used for cartilage and bone repair. Optical microscope, SEM method were used to investigate the inside and the surface characteristics of the scaffold.The mechanical performance and the porosity of the scaffold were also tested. Results show that this scaffold consists of two distinct yet continuous phases, one is composed by poly(L, D-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres, the other is composed by PLGA/Bioglass(BG) microspheres; the composite scaffolds have 3-D interconnective porous structure. The data of porosity also indicate that the porosity is independent of microsphere diameter in the range of diameters examined. Porosity is (53.37±4.39)% when the size of microspheres is between 150μm and 200μm and the compressive stress is 0.9MPa when compressive strain is 10%. With the decrease of the microspheres size, the porosity of the scaffold gradually increases.This scaffold shows potential as polymeric substitutes for bone and cartilage repair.