Evaluation of PVA/Chitosan Cryogels as Potential Tissue Engineering Scaffolds; Synthesis, Cytotoxicity, and Genotoxicity Investigations

Abstract

Cryogelation has become an advantageous method to obtain macro-porous materials with welldefined, interconnected pores for tissue engineering applications. Herein, polyvinyl alcohol and chitosanpolymers (PVA-CHI) were used to produce cryogel scaffolds via cryogelation. Glutaraldehyde was used asa crosslinking agent and the effect of crosslinking amount on the properties of scaffolds investigated.Glutaraldehyde amount was divided into 5, 10, and 15% total amount of polymer concentration. Theoptimized pore morphology was obtained as a scaffold containing 5% glutaraldehyde amount. In additionto the FTIR, SEM, swelling, and degradation analyses, mechanical tests were performed to present thecharacterization properties of the cryogels. Direct and indirect cytotoxicity test and genotoxicityexperiments were performed with Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEF). In addition, cell morphologies onscaffolds were analyzed with SEM. The results showed that PVA-CHI based cryogels had no genotoxic andcytotoxic effects on MEF cells and have a potential for tissue engineering applications.