Development and mechanical characterization of a collagen/hydroxyapatite bilayered scaffold for ostechondral defect replacement

In this work a novel three-dimensional ostechondral substitute is proposed that is made of an inorganic/organic hybrid material, namely collagen/hydroxyapatite. The two components of the substitute have been characterized separately. The inorganic part, a hydroxyapatite scaffold, was fabricated by a polymer sponge templating method using a reactive sub-micron powder synthesized in our laboratory by hydroxide precipitation sol-gel route. The organic part, a collagen scaffold, was fabricated by a freeze-dying technique varying design parameters. Both the parts were analysed by scanning electron microscopy and their mechanical properties assessed by compression tests. The hydroxyapatite scaffold showed a high and highly interconnected porosity and a mechanical strength equal to 0.55 MPa, higher than those reported in literature. The collagen scaffolds were seeded by chondrocytes, processed for histology analysis and tested in compression. The biological tests proved the ability of the scaffolds to be positively populated by chondrocytes and the mechanical analysis showed that the mechanical strength of the scaffolds significantly increased after 3 weeks of culture.