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Novel porous scaffolds were fabricated using biodegradable polylactide/chitosan blends. A combinational technique involving solvent-extracting, liquid-solid separation, and freeze-drying paths were employed. The processing parameters were optimized in order to produce desired porous scaffolds and thus obtained scaffolds showed well distributed and interconnected porous structures with controllable porosities varying from around 50-85% and regulative pore sizes being distributed within a region between 2 and 190 microm. These scaffolds exhibited remarkably improved hydrophilicity based on the measurements for their swelling index. The results obtained from in vitro incubation of scaffolds in phosphate buffered saline solutions at 37 degrees C during various periods up to 10 weeks indicated that chitosan component inside the scaffolds, on the one hand, effectively buffered the acidic degradation products of polylactide/chitosan scaffolds and on the other hand, the degradation of the scaffolds was also conspicuously delayed. These porous scaffolds maintained well-defined compressive mechanical properties and by well-blending polylactide with chitosan component, improved toughness on the resultant porous scaffolds was also observed.

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Polycaprolactone (PCL) and chitosan were blended to fabricate porous scaffolds for tissue-engineering applications by employing a concentrated acetic acid solution as solvent and salt particles as porogen. These scaffolds showed well-controlled and interconnected porous structures. The pore size and porosity of the scaffolds could be effectively modulated by selecting appropriate amounts and sizes of porogen. The results obtained from compressive mechanical measurements indicated that PCL/chitosan could basically retain their strength in their dry state compared to individual components. In a hydrated state, their compressive stress and modulus could be still well maintained even though the weight ratio of chitosan reached around 50 wt%.