Abstract
Photo-crosslinked chitosan-gelatin scaffolds were fabricated and applied for chondrocyte culture in vitro. Photocurable methacryloyl chitosan was synthesized and characterized by FTIR and 1H NMR, respectively. Microstructure and mechanical properties of the chitosan-gelatin scaffold treated with or without EDC as crosslinking agent were analyzed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), compression and viscoelastic measurement. It is demonstrated that EDC-treated chitosan-gelatin scaffold possesses better porous structure and improved mechanical properties. Photo-crosslinked chitosan-gelatin scaffold could be further integrated in sodium alginate hydrogel using calcium chloride to support proliferation of chondrocytes for over 21 days and maintain spherical phenotype, as evaluated by AlamarBlue assay and SEM, respectively, implying that the chitosan-gelatin-hydrogel system exhibits great cyto-biocompatibility. Results of this study show that photo-crosslinked chitosan-gelatin scaffold in sodium alginate hydrogel is suited as a scaffold candidate for cartilage tissue engineering.