Strontium Activated Bioactive Cellulose Scaffolds

Abstract

Knits made of cellulose are promising scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications due to their multi-scale interconnected porosity, biocompatibility and adjustable biodegradability. The approach of this study combines the modification of cellulose with strontium to generate scaffolds capable of forming bone like apatite during exposure to physiological solutions and the release of strontium as an active agent, that might encourage the development of new bone tissue. The Sr-release kinetics during static exposure to simulated body fluid is dominated by an accelerated Sr-release in the initial state followed by a reduced release corresponding to a diffusion controlled rate. Microstructural analyses indicate that initially precipitated SrCO3 transforms to SrxCa1-xCO3 solid solutions that subsequently serve as a template for the precipitation of bone like carbonated hydroxyapatite.