Abstract
Hydrogels, based on natural polymers, are gaining attention as possible cell scaffolding materials for the regeneration of a variety of tissues. In this work, gelatin (Gel) and hyaluronic acid (HA) were used to fabricate novel scaffold materials using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide as a cross-linker. The degradation behaviours of Gel/HA scaffolds in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and PBS solution containing lysozyme were investigated respectively. The biological properties including haemolytic activity and acute systemic toxicity were also studied. The results showed that the scaffold had an interconnected pore structure with an average pore size of about 100–500 μm. The degradation of Gel/HA scaffolds in PBS solution containing lysozyme was faster than that in PBS solution. The haemolytic ratio of 0·340–0·781% indicated that the Gel/HA scaffolds have a good blood compatibility. The acute systemic toxicity test showed that Gel/HA extracts have no acute systemic toxicity.
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Fund of China (grant no. 51273062), the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Fund of China (grant no. 12JJA003), the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (grant no. 11B045) and the Aid program for Science and Technology Innovative Research Team in Higher Educational Institutions of Hunan Province.