Fabrication of porous bone scaffolds using degradable and mouldable bacterial cellulose

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a biomaterial extensively studied in tissue engineering due to its favorable properties. Porosity, biocompatibility, biodegradability and mechanical durability are essential material properties for scaffold use in tissue engineering. This study aims to fabricate porous scaffolds using a moldable and degradable BC-HAp composite for bone tissue engineering. BC was produced by Komagataeibacter sucrofermentans under static culture conditions. The harvested BC membranes were purified and then mechanically shredded. BC oxidation was performed using different sodium periodate concentrations (0.05–0.5 M) and treatment times (0.5–12 h). Oxidized BCs (oxBC) were modified with hydroxyapatite (HAp), then were moulded, lyophilized, and characterized. The degradability of the scaffolds was determined for 45 days. Cytotoxic analysis of oxBC scaffolds was carried out for 7 days using the L929 fibroblast cell line. The oxidation degrees of the shredded BC samples were between 6.75 and 81%, which increased in line with the increasing concentration and application time of periodate. The scaffolds prepared using oxidized cellulose for 30 and 60 min (oxBC30 and oxBC60) preserved their integrity, These scaffolds showed a weight loss of 9% and 14% in 45 days, respectively. The pore distribution was between 50 and 450 µm and concentrated in the 50–150 µm range. The compression moduli were 88.72 kPa and 138.88 kPa for oxBC30-HAp and oxBC60-HAp, respectively. It was determined that oxBC did not show a significant difference in cell viability compared to the control groups and was not cytotoxic. In conclusion, degradable and more porous bone scaffolds were fabricated using mouldable oxBC.