Novel porous gelatin/bioactive glass scaffolds with controlled pore structure engineered via compound techniques for bone tissue engineering

In this research, novel nanocomposite scaffolds with compositions based on cross-linked gelatin (Gel) and bioactive glass (BaG) nanoparticles in the ternary SiO₂-CaO-P₂O₅ system were prepared and fully characterized. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations revealed that the prepared scaffolds were porous with three dimensional (3D) and interconnected microstructure, pore size was 200-500 μm and the porosity was 72-86%. It is worth mentioning that the density (ρ) and the porosity percentages of the prepared samples were in the range of natural spongy bone and also, comparison between specific elastic modulus (E/ρ) indicated that their properties were very close to natural bone. In addition, the bone-like apatite formation at the surface of the samples was confirmed by different analyses. In vitro experiments with osteoblast cells indicated an appropriate penetration of the cells into the scaffold´s pores, and also the continuous increase in cell aggregation on the scaffolds with increase in the incubation time demonstrated the ability of the scaffolds to support cell growth. Thus, the scaffolds could be considered as highly promising materials for bone tissue engineering applications.