Fabrication and characterization of Diopside/chitosan scaffold blended with aloe vera for tissue engineering

Tissue engineering has recently developed a growing field in the regeneration of tissues biomaterials are required in tissue engineering techniques for the construction of scaffolds by which relevant cells can be attached,... [ view full abstract ]

Tissue engineering has recently developed a growing field in the regeneration of tissues biomaterials are required in tissue engineering techniques for the construction of scaffolds by which relevant cells can be attached, grown, and proliferated [1].

Chitosan (CS) is one such biopolymer widely used in a variety of biomedical fields [2] as a drug delivery vehicle, surgical thread, wound healing material. [3] Chitosan is particularly attractive for tissue engineering due to its bioactivity, biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, hydrophilicity, and mechanical properties [4-5]

Aloe vera (AV) is used extensively from ancient-day history to modern medical applications as a anti-inflammatory, skin protector, and also detoxifying agent for biological activity. It is recognized to be full of complex carbohydrates, hemicelluloses, anthraquinones, and antioxidants that can be applied for topical application on wounds. [6-7].

Diopside (CaMgSi₂O₆), one of the pyroxene minerals, has been studied as an excellent bioactive material [8, 9].

In this research, novel porous composite scaffolds consisting of diopside, chitosan and aloe vera were prepared using the freeze-drying method. The prepared nanocomposite scaffolds were characterized by SEM, XRD, BET, TGA and FT-IR techniques. In addition, swelling, degradation and biomineralization capability, cell viability and cell attachment of the composite scaffolds were evaluated.