Preparation and characterization of magnetic ferroscaffolds for tissue engineering

Abstract

Magnetic-based scaffolds (ferroscaffolds) were fabricated using an in-situ synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles in the presence of various concentration of biodegradable gelatin. The resulting ferroscaffolds show an interconnected pore structure with pore sizes ranging from 50 to 200 mm depending on gelatin concentrations. However, the yield of the iron oxide nanoparticles decreases with the increase of gelatin contents, which is due to the presence of polymeric chains that hindered the growth of iron oxide upon coprecipitation. The content of deposited magnetic nanoparticles could reach up to 9.41% and its saturation magnetization (Ms) was 23.5 emu/g. In addition, while applying a magnetic field (MF), the magnetic interparticles forces immediately formed to reduce the drug release rates in the ferroscaffolds. The ferroscaffolds which possess an excellently magnetic-sensitive behaviors can be potentially used as stimuli-responsive drug carriers and scaffolding materials for tissue engineering. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.