Preparation of Extracted Chitosan Scaffolds using Amino acids as Crosslinking Agents

By : E.Roshanara Begum , Bhavani K , Mahalakshmi K , Mahalakshmi L , R.Shenbagarathai

Page No: 57-65

Abstract
In recent years, scaffolds prepared from natural materials, especially of marine origin are gaining much attention in tissue engineering owing to its unique characteristics like biocompatibility, biodegradability, low antigenicity and non-transmission of infectious pathogens. However, the rapid degradation of chitosan and its poor mechanical strength have limited its use. Hence, in this study, scaffolds were prepared from extracted chitosan (Chi) derived from the exoskeleton of Portunus pelagicus(Blue swimming crab). It was crosslinked with three different aminoacids such as Leucine (Leu), Glycine(Gly) and Asparatic acid (Asp).The crosslinked scaffolds showed an average poresize of 40 -60 μm. Out of the three amino acids used ,Chi-Gly scaffolds exhibited a lowest biodegradation degree (41.5%) after 4 weeks of degradation and enhanced water uptake ability (90%) and tensile strength (0.654 ± 0.0.018 % MPa).Thus, this study provides a baseline information about the usage of aminoacids as crosslinkers to confer biostability on chitosan scaffold systems.

Authors :
E.Roshanara Begum, Bhavani K,Mahalakshmi K, Mahalakshmi L and R.Shenbagarathai : PG and Research Department of Zoology & Biotechnology, Lady Doak College, Madurai-625002, India.