CYTOTOXICITY OF CHITOSAN BASED THERMO-SENSITIVE HYDROGELS INTENDED FOR NERVOUS TISSUE ENGINEERING

The damage to the central nervous system is one of the most difficult cases of trauma to treat. Over the last few years, increasing attention has been focused on the development of strategies based on biomaterials for regeneration and repair of the spinal cord injury. In particular, materials in the form of hydrogels based on chitosan are being actively investigated due to their intrinsic properties that are favorable in spinal cord tissue regeneration. The purpose of this study was to develop a thermo-gelling chitosan solution that will be prepared with the use of acids that naturally occur in the human nervous tissue. For this purpose, two types of chitosan gels were prepared based on chitosan glutamate and chitosan lactate. In order to reduce toxic action of the system obtained gels were conditioned in distilled water with pH 5.00. The changes in the structures of systems obtained were determined with the use of FTIR method. Biocompatibility was primarily evaluated through cytotoxicity testing by MTT assay with respect to mouse fibroblast cells.