Collagen-based scaffolds reinforced by chitosan fibres for bone tissue engineering

In this paper, porous bone scaffolds reinforced with chitosan fibres were prepared. The porosity and pore size of the reinforced scaffolds were both satisfactory. The reinforced scaffolds resembled natural bone in both components and crystal size. Only if the length of the fibres was no shorter than the critical length, could the fibres reinforce the material. We have proposed an empirical formula to calculate the critical length of the fibres for the porous materials and determined the modifying factor (F-1) for the porous bone scaffold investigated in this work. Along with the increase of the fibres' volume content, the compressive strength of the scaffold also increased. We have proposed a further empirical formula for calculating the compressive strength of the porous reinforced materials and determined the modifying factor (F-sigma) for the porous reinforced bone scaffold examined in these studies. Along with the degradation in vitro, the decrease in strength of the reinforced scaffold was less than that of the unreinforced scaffold. The growth rate of osteoblast cells on the reinforced scaffold was higher than that on the unreinforced scaffold. These results suggest that the reinforced scaffold may be a promising candidate matrix for repairing large bone defects. (c) 2005 Society of Chemical Industry.