Evaluation of physical and mechanical properties of β-tri-calcium phosphate/poly-3-hydroxybutyrate nanocomposite scaffold for bone tissue engineering application.

One of the major challenges facing researchers of tissue engineering is the scaffold design with desirable physical and mechanical properties for growth and proliferation of cells and tissue formation. In this paper, firstly, β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) nanopowders with particle size of 50-70 nm were synthesized using a simple sol-gel route with calcium nitrate and potassium dihydrogenphosphate as calcium and phosphorus precursors, respectively. Then, the porous ceramic scaffold containing 40, 50, and 60 wt% of nβ-TCP was prepared by the polyurethane sponge replication method. The scaffolds were coated with P3HB for 30 sec and 1 min in order to increase the scaffold's mechanical properties. XRD, XRF, SEM, TEM, and FT-IR were used in order to study the phase and element structure, morphology, particle size, and determination of functional groups, respectively. Based on the results of compressive strength and porosimetry tests, the most appropriate type of scaffold is 50 wt% of nβ-TCP immersed for 30 sec in P3HB with 75% porosity in 200-600 μm, with a compressive strength of 1.09 MPa and a compressive modulus of 33 MPa, which can be utilized in bone tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]