Effect of crosslinking temperature on compression strength of gelatin scaffold for articular cartilage tissue engineering

A crosslinking method with directly crosslinking the gelatin gel by genipin was performed at 10–25 °C. The microstructure of the gelatin scaffold can be modulated by the crosslinking temperature. During repeated compression–swelling test, a plateau stress occurred. This plateau stress was relatively constant during the cyclic test. The cartilage tissue developed in the scaffold can largely enhance the compression strength of the scaffold and the scaffold with largest pore (350–500 μm, 25 °C-crosslinked) developed largest amount of the cartilage tissue after cell culture. With or without cell culture, the scaffold with smallest pore (50–150 μm, 10 °C-crosslinked) showed the highest compression strength. The pure gelatin scaffold can undergo reversible deformation for the motion of the articular cartilage.