Effect of Dioxane and N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone as a Solvent on Biocompatibility and Degradation Performance of PLGA/nHA Scaffolds

BACKGROUND: Solvent casting/particulate leaching is one of the most conventional methods for fabricating polymer/ceramic composite scaffolds. In this method, the solvent generally affects resulting scaffold properties, including porosity and degradation rate. METHODS: Herein, composite scaffolds of PLGA/nHA with different percentages of nHA (25, 35, and 45 wt. %) were prepared by the solvent casting/particle leaching combined with freeze drying. The effects of two different solvents, DIO and NMP, on morphology, porosity, bioactivity, degradation rate, and biocompatibility of the resulting scaffolds were investigated. RESULTS: The results revealed that increasing the nHA percentages had no significant effect on the porosity and interconectivity of scaffolds (p > 0.05), whereas altering the solvent from DIO into NMP decreased the porosity from about 87% into 71%, respectively. Moreover, scaffolds of DIO illustrated the high results of cell proliferation compared to those of NMP; the cell viability of GD25 decreased from 85% to 65% for GN25. The findings also indicated that scaffolds prepared by NMP had a higher rate of losing weight in comparison to DIO. Adding nHA to PLGA had a significant effect on the bioactivity of scaffolds (p < 0.05), composite scaffolds with 45 wt % nHA had at least 30% more weight gain compared to the neat polymer scaffolds. CONCLUSION: The DIO scaffolds have higher rates of porosity, interconnectivity, bioactivity, and biocompatibility than NMP scaffolds due to its high evaporation rate.