Evaluation of Extracted Chitosan from Portunus Pelagicus for the Preparation of Chitosan Alginate Blend Scaffolds

In recent years there is a growing need in generating a biocompatible and cost effective porous scaffold for tissue engineering purposes. Therefore, this study focused on conversion of the shell waste of locally available crab variety P.pelagicus (Blue swimming crab) into the chitosan scaffold. As the poor mechanical strength of chitosan limits its usage in tissue engineering, it was blended with alginate. The scaffolds were prepared by the freeze gelation method which requires less time and minimum energy, with fewer residual solvent and easier to scale up. To the best of our knowledge there are no reports on scaffold preparation from the extracted chitosan, blended with alginate by freeze gelation method. The biological properties of chitosan-alginate scaffolds (Cts–Alg) were evaluated and compared with those of chitosan scaffolds. The prepared scaffolds were characterized by SEM, swelling property, in vitro enzymatic degradation, and hemo, biocompatibility properties. Chitosan-alginate scaffolds had an average pore size of 40 μm and tensile strength of 0.564 ± 0.0.018 % MPa. Its swelling ratio was 27.5 ± 0.28 %, with mass loss percentage of 10 ± 0.33 % after 4 weeks of degradation. It has exhibited good hemocompatible properties too. Mouse fibroblast 3T3 cells were able to adhere and proliferate well in the blended scaffold. All these results indicated that chitosan-alginate scaffold is a suitable alternative substitute for tissue engineering.