• Design and fabrication of porous microcarrier for bone tissue engineering
  • Elahe Hantooshzade,1,* Mohsen sadeqi,2 Shohreh Mashayekhan,3
    1. Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
    2. Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Tissue engineering represents an innovative approach for therapeutic reconstruction of different damaged tissues. Scaffolds are important elements in this approach, therefor design and development of scaffolds with desirable features has attracted many attentions. In this regard, microcarriers are considered as one of the most promising candidates as non-invasive cell carriers for regeneration of irregular shaped defects. A wide range of biomaterials such as synthetic and natural polymers and ceramics have been utilized using different methods for microcarrier fabrication. The aim of this study is fabrication of biodegradable porous microcarriers based on chitosan and bioactive glass by electrospray method for application in bone tissue engineering.
  • Methods: Chitosan powder was dissolved in acetic acid (2% v/v) for preparing 2% w/v chitosan solution. Bioactive glass was dispersed into the solution by use of sonicator probe to achieve solutions with three concentration of 0.5, 2, and 3% (w/v). Microspheres were crosslinked in sodium three poly phosphate (TPP) by electrospray set up at voltage of 15-20 kV. Then microcarriers were collected, washed with distilled water, and lyophilized. Then SEM and swelling tests were performed.
  • Results: The results showed that bioactive glass incorporation could improve both sphericity and mechanical property of the microcarriers. Moreover, The SEM results revealed that adding bioactive glass caused decrease in pore size.
  • Conclusion: In conclusion, the microcarrier incorporated with 2% of bioactive glass may be proposed as the optimum sample due to appropriate spherical shape, pore size, and mechanical properties for bone tissue engineering applications.
  • Keywords: Bone tissue engineering - electrospray - chitosan