Abstract
Development of porous scaffolds having both high porosity and strong mechanical strength for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has been quite challenging. A novel composite collagen/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffold was developed by embedding PCL cylinder scaffold within collagen matrix. Composite scaffold was fabricated using the frozen and freeze dried techniques. The controls of pure collagen and PCL scaffolds were also investigated for comparison in this study. Morphological, porosity and mechanical properties of this composite scaffold was examined. The composite scaffold possessed appropriate tensile strength (179±12.8 MPa) and Young's modulus (38.5±5.5 MPa), which greater than pure collagen scaffold. This study demonstrated that the reinforcing technique could modulate the mechanical properties and porosity in the composite scaffold, which could be applied in tissue engineering of ligament.
