Development Of Poly(Lactic Acid) Microspheres/Gelatin Coated Beta-Tricalcium Phosphate Scaffold For Bone Tissue Engineering Application

Three-dimensional interconnected porous structure and ideal mechanical strength are essential for biological scaffold in bone tissue engineering application. The main aim of this study is to develop multifunctional scaffold for bone tissue engineering application. In this research, gel casting method was used to produce porous beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffold. β-TCP scaffold coated with gelatin crosslinked with 1% glutaraldehyde (GA) showed optimum compressive strength where it improved around 139% compressive strength compared to uncoated scaffold. Uncoated β-TCP scaffold and the β-TCP scaffold coated with crosslinked gelatin showed their bioactive properties by taking 2 weeks to form apatite. The gelatin coating had slightly reduced protein-adsorption compared to pure β-TCP. In the second part, emulsion solvent evaporation was used to fabricate doxycycline loaded poly(lactic acid) (PLA) microspheres. Results showed that the 4% NaCl in external aqueous phase was the most efficient way to increase the encapsulation efficiency where 66% of the doxycycline was encapsulated and showed the largest inhibition growth zone diameter of E. coli at 16.15mm. Lastly, β-TCP scaffold coated with PLA microspheres had enhanced the compressive strength. The encapsulated doxycycline was released in a slower and sustained manner compared to free PLA microspheres. In short, PLA microspheres coated scaffold developed in the study shows multifunctional as it provides structural support, bioactivity and controlled drug delivery function for bone tissue engineering