In Vivo Therapeutic Effect of a Novel Thiolated Chitosan/Modified Calcium Carbonate Composite Microspheres Scaffold for Bone Repair

Abstract

In this study, thiolated chitosan (CS-TBA) and modified calcium carbonate microspheres (CCM), were used to fabricate composite scaffolds, and their physical and performances were compared and evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Specimen of the following was prepared as 5 mm diameter, 1 mm thick discs; CS-TBA/CCM group and a control group (blank group). A scanning electron microscope study was conducted. Graft materials were implanted in a 5 mm diameter in the calvarial bone. Rats were sacrificed after four and eight weeks for micro-CT and histological staining, and the findings obtained were used to calculate the bone mineral density (BMD), bone volume/total bone volume (BV/TV), and trabecular number (TB.N). It was found that these three values were significantly higher in the CS-TBA/CCM group than in the control group (p<0.05). This study demonstrated an excellent potential of CS-TBA/ CCM scaffold as a bone graft substitute.