Evaluation of Water Absorption and In Vitro Degradation Properties of Chitosan–Gelatin–Pectin Biopolymer for Tissue Engineering

For engineering any human tissue, a scaffold for adhesion and proliferation of human cells is very necessary. Many different natural and synthetic biopolymers have been used, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. Many synthetic biopolymers have drawbacks such as hydrophobicity, less cell adhesion, and inflammation. To overcome these disadvantages, natural biopolymers are used to enhance biocompatibility and cell adhesion and reduce immunogenicity. In the present work, we have mixed three natural biopolymers-chitosan, gelatin, and pectin-in different ratios and crosslinked them with glutaraldehyde. These mixtures underwent repeated freeze-thaw cycles, followed by drying in a hot air oven to form solid scaffolds. A chitosan-glutaraldehyde scaffold was prepared in the same way as a control. All the scaffolds were characterized for their structure using x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Their functional groups were determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Water absorption and degradation properties of all scaffolds were studied. It was found that the water absorption capacity of scaffolds was improved by adding gelatin and pectin to chitosan. Also, the partial crystalline nature of these scaffolds increased, in comparison to the control, when pectin and gelatin were mixed with chitosan. Thus, these chitosan-gelatin-pectin scaffolds can have the potential to be used for tissue engineering applications.