Property Of Polyvinyl Alcohol-Calcium Alginate As Composite Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering

Objective:A novel PVA-CaAlg composite material by polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sodium alginate(SA) was prepared to investigate the feasibility of serving as a scaffold for tissue engineering and to find out the most ideal proportion according to the property.Methods:Scaffolds of PVA-CaAlg was fabricated by blending PVA with various amounts of SA. Water content and swelling ratio were tested. SEM was used to observe the configuration of the cross section.Results:Different proportional scaffolds could be obtained with different PVA molecular weight, alcoholysis degree and different SA dosage. They exhibited high water content, between 48.06-94.71% and showed different inner configuration with swelling ratio between 119.56-1467.42% and porosity between 50.36-113.98%. SEM proved that different composite material had different porous structure.Conclusion:A scaffold for tissue engineering with high water content and proper swelling ratio can be fabricated using PVA and SA. The porous structure shows potential in tissue engineering and cell culture.