Polysaccharide-based artificial extracellular matrix: Preparation and characterization of three-dimensional, macroporous chitosan, and heparin composite scaffold

Scaffold-guided tissue engineering based on synthetic and natural occurring polymers has gained many interests in recent year. In this study, the development of a chitosan-heparin artificial extracellular matrix (AECM) is reported. Three-dimensional, macroporous composite AECMs composed of heparin (Hep) and chitosan (Chito) were prepared by an interpolyelectrolyte complex/ lyophilization method. The Chito-Hep composite AECMs were, respectively, crosslinked with glutaraldehyde, as well as cocrosslinked with N,N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethyl carbodiimide (EDC/NHS) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). The crosslinking reactions were examined by FT-IR analysis. In physiological buffer solution (PBS), the EDC/NHS-crosslinked Chito-Hep composite AECM showed a relative lower water retention ratio than its glutaraldehyde-crosslinked counterparts. The EDC/NHS-crosslinked Chito-Hep composite AECMs showed excellent biocompatibility, according to the results of the in vitro cytotoxic test. This result suggested that the EDC/NHS-crosslinked Chito-Hep composite AECMs might be a potential biomaterial for scaffold-guided tissue engineering applications.