Investigation of pore size effect on cell compatibility using pore size gradient chitosan scaflold

Chitosan cylindrical scaffolds with gradually increasing pore s ze along the longitudinal direction were fabricated by a novel centrifugation method to investigae pore size effect on cell interactions. The scaffold was fabricated by the centrifugation of a cylindrical mold containing fibril-like chitosans. The pore size ranges of the scaffold could be controlled by adjusting, the centrifugal speed: the scaffold with gradually increasing pore size (from similar to 80 mu m to similar to 400 mu m) and porosity (from similar to 82 % to similar to 93 %) along the cylindrical axis was obtained by applying the centrifugal speed, 3,000 rpm. The scaffold sections were examined for their in vitro cell interactions using different kinds of cells (fibroblasts, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts) in terms of scaffold pore sizes. It was observed that different kinds of cells were shown to have different pore size ranges in the scaffold for effective cell growth. The chitosan scaffold section with similar to 400 mu m pore size showed better cell growth for chcndrocytes and osteoblasts, while the scaffold section with similar to 190 mu m pore size was better for fibroblast growth. The pore size gradient scaffolds fabricated by the centrifugation method can be a good tool for the systematic studies of the interactions between cells or tissues and scaffolds with different pore size.