Biological Evaluation of Porous Chitosan/collagen Scaffolds for Periodontal Tissue Engineering

Porous chitosan/collagen scaffolds were investigated via biological evaluation to learn whether it could be used for periodontal tissue engineering. Periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) were co-cultultured with chitosan/collagen scaffold and cytocompatibility were evaluated by MTT assay, as well as SEM and CLSM observation. PDLCs´ mRNA expression of ECM was carried out by RT-PCR tests. For tissue compatibility evaluation, scaffolds were implanted subcutaneously under the skin of rabbit´s ears and HE staining was used. The delivery ability was also taken by release test of BSA and plasmid DNA from scaffold. The results revealed that PDLCs could adhere and grow well on scaffold. Compared to plate culture, PDLCs showed similar mRNA express level of ECM and higher cell capacity. The scaffold showed good tissue compatibility and degrade completely in vivo after 6 weeks of implantation. Such scaffold also could behave as control delivery system of protein and DNA. So chitosan/collagen was a kind of promising scaffold material for periodontal tissue engineering.