Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

96

Date

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Biomedical Engineering

Committee Chair

Joel D. Bumgardner

Committee Member

Warren O. Haggard

Committee Member

Richard A. Smith

Abstract

The orthopedic clinical demand for bone grafts is a persistent problem for patients with age-related bone fractures and diseased bone defects. The aim of this study was to use calcium phosphate, a biomimetic ceramic with high compressive strength, and chitosan, a natural biodegradable and biocompatible polymer, to construct microsphere-based composite scaffolds to serve as a bone graft. Two types of scaffolds,(1) air-dried microspheres (AD) and (2) solid air-dried and lyophilized microsphere combination (FDAD), were evaluated in vitro for mineralization and enzymatic degradation. The combination FDAD scaffold showed on average ~80% increase (p<0.01) in cell number per scaffold mass compared to AD because of the larger surface area advantage. Due to the higher cell number, the production of collagen was ~31% greater (p<0.01) on FDAD scaffolds compared to AD scaffolds. However, scanning electron micrographs indicated minimal matrix deposition for both scaffold types. The AD scaffolds had a three-fold compressive strength advantage compared to FDAD scaffolds. These results indicate FDAD scaffolds have more osteogenic potential based on cell growth and collagen elaboration, but AD scaffolds demonstrated higher compressive strength.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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