Over the past few decades, artificial graft materials for bone tissue engineering are gaining much importance. In this study, tri-component scaffolds of chitosan/natural hydroxyapatite with chondroitin sulfate (chitosan-CS/HAp) and amylopectin (chitosan-AP/HAp) have been developed for the first time via freeze-drying method and were characterized physicochemically for bone grafting substitutes. Chemical interactions and dispersion of HAp, CS and AP in the chitosan matrix have been evaluated by various analytical techniques. The porosity and water uptake/retention ability of these composite scaffolds decreased whereas thermal stability increased when compared to the chitosan scaffold. The pore size of the chitosan/HAp, chitosan-CS/HAp and chitosan-AP/HAp scaffolds varied from 60 to 180 μm, 60 to 400 μm and 80 to 500 μm, respectively. Cell proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity and type-1 collagen production was evaluated in vitro using MG-63 cell line, which was observed to be higher in the composite scaffolds. Excellent interconnected porosity, controlled biodegradation and enhanced cell proliferation of the novel chitosan-CS/HAp and chitosan-AP/HAp scaffolds suggests that these scaffolds are promising biomaterials for bone tissue engineering.
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