Bone tissue engineering evaluation based on rat calvaria stromal cells cultured on modified PLGA scaffolds

Using natural materials to coat the scaffolds used for tissue-engineered bone-repair techniques is expected to increase osteoblast adhesion to the scaffold and to express normal physiological function. To test this hypothesis, we therefore modified poly(dl-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) substrate by coating it with natural biomaterial solutions of collagen, chitosan, or N-succinyl-chitosan, and then used these three combinations as scaffolds to evaluate their effects on osteoblast attachment, proliferation, and differentiation. The results demonstrated that the pore size of scaffolds ranging from 125-500 μm did not affect the osteoblast phenotype; however, the surface modification of the scaffolds coated with these natural biomaterials did. Collagen increased cell attachment and proliferation, but chitosan and N-succinyl-chitosan decreased them. Chitosan and N-succinyl-chitosan increased differentiation, but collagen decreased it. These results provide us a new strategy for modifying microenvironments to increase osteoblast adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation on PLGA scaffolds, a strategy that might be useful for tissue regeneration.