Influence of fabrication temperature on the structural features of chitosan gels for tissue engineering applications

Abstract

Chitosan is a natural polymer synthesized from the chitin of crab, lobster shells, fungal mycelia and shrimp. It has been used for biomedical applications in many different structures including thin film, nanofibrous membrane, sponge, microsphere, hydrogel and cryogel because of its nontoxicity, biodegradability, biocompatibility and antibacterial properties. Cryogelation technique is based on the crosslinking of polymers or crosslinking polymerization of monomers in the presence of crosslinking agents at temperatures below zero. On the other hand, hydrogels are mainly prepared at room temperature. In this study, chitosan gels were prepared at different reaction temperatures (-25, 0 and +25°C). Swelling profiles revealed that with decreasing reaction temperature swelling ratio increased. In addition, the degradation rate of chitosan gels prepared at -25 and +25°C was measured 50.60 and 30.88%, respectively. Results indicate that reaction temperature affects the architecture and characterization results of the gels.