A novel method for producing tissue engineering scaffolds from chitin, chitin–hydroxyapatite, and cellulose

Two particulate leaching techniques were used in order to obtain carbohydrate-based open porous structure suitable for tissue engineering applications. In one case the pore inducing particles were water-soluble (edible salt) and in the other case the particles were water-insoluble [poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)]. The water-soluble particulate leaching method, which had already been proposed in the literature for freeze drying exchange of water in the chitin hydrogel with a bad solvent, was modified here in order to retain the porous structure. This approach resulted in a bulk porous structure with low interconnectivity and no surface porosity. This method proved also inappropriate for application to chitin–hydroxyapatite composite. To overcome these problems, a novel water-insoluble particulate leaching method is proposed which has been successfully applied to chitin, to chitin–hydroxyapatite composites, and also to cellulose.