Gum based 3D composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications.

The increase in population, greater life expectancy, and lifestyle choices have caused a drastic increase in the number of bone diseases such as bone tumours, osteoarthritis and bone fractures. This results in the dire need for treatment options such as suitable bone grafts that can be easily fabricated, and are economical. In this study, fabricated composite scaffolds are made from polysaccharide biopolymers, namely gellan and guar gum, and hydroxyapatite by freeze drying method. The developed scaffolds of optimum concentration showed a maximum percentage degradation of 13.7% only until 21 days in phosphate buffered saline solution, and minimum swelling capacity. The mechanically stable scaffolds (compressive strength equivalent to cancellous bone region, ˜3-30 MPa) amongst them were then subjected to characterization tests-scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, swelling ratio percentage determination, degradation profile study and water vapour transmission study. The cytotoxic evaluation of the optimised scaffolds was performed using MTT assay with murine fibroblast (L929) cells and osteosarcoma (MG63) cells. It was found that the scaffolds were non-cytotoxic and additionally, the cells had proliferated well within the scaffolds, which was confirmed by MTT assay at 1, 4 and 7 days after cell seeding onto the scaffolds.