PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ALGINATE, ALGINATECHITOSAN AND ALGINATE-GALATIN SCAFFOLDS FOR TISSUE ENGINEERING

Abstract

Tissue engineering is area which is now witnessing a major role in the field of regeneration of body parts lost due to accidents. There are a number of ways to fabricate the scaffold and there are various scaffolds which are available in the market but yet a scaffold which is very reliable in the tissue engineering is lacking. The parameters which are required by the scaffold replacing the tissue make it very challenging task to fabricate scaffold which can mimic the function of tissue. Here we are concerned about the porous nature of the scaffold, surface structure, what affect it has on the cells of the body and many more things. Porosity plays very important role in the process of regeneration. In the course of regeneration the nutrients and oxygen which is needed should pass through the tissue to reach the nearby cells. The surface of the scaffold is also very important, if the surface is even cells will not be able to anchor on the surface and it will hinder the regeneration process. In case of bone and cartilage one thing is very important that is mechanical strength, due to load bearing function of bone tissue which is an integral part of function of bone tissue. Mechanical strength is required in the case of cartilage but right blend of right blend of strength and with elasticity, biocompatibility and biodegradability is a major task ahead. We are here trying to fabricate three types of scaffold with the help of alginate chitosan and gelatin which has many advantages. We want to make it more suitable with the manipulation of some parameters of formation of scaffold. We are her trying to characterize the finally prepared scaffold to study all the properties which it possesses. We will see its surface structure, biocompatibility and how it behave at different pH, as a scaffold will come in contact with body fluids of different pH. Instrument we are going to use are, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) which is now a day a very important instrument to have an insight in any materials structure, we are also using here X-ray diffraction for determination of structure of the scaffold.