Macro-and micromechanical modelling of HA-Elastin scaffold fabricated using freeze drying technique

Since osteomyelitis is a serious and dangerous disease, it requires immediatetreatment with antibiotics or bone substitute replacement in orthopedic surgeries.Therefore, a porous polymeric-ceramic was fabricated using hydroxyapatite(HA) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) composed with elastin as an idealscaffold for bone tissue engineering applications. The current study is aimed atinvestigating the effects of various amounts of elastin biopolymer on porous bionanocompositescaffold using the freeze-drying (FD) technique. The morphologyand phase analysis of the prepared scaffold are analyzed using scanning electronmicroscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The biologicalperformance of the porous tissue is evaluated in simulated body fluid (SBF) andsodium chloride (SC) solution. The tensile test is used to measure the elasticmodulus and tensile strength of the porous tissue before soaking in the SBF. Theobtained result is simulated using micromechanical model from the experimentalvalues. The elastic modulus of samples decreases from 1.18 MPa to 0.69 MPa,and porosity evaluation is in the range of 70-85% with addition of 10 wt% and 15wt% elastin to PMMA-HA bio-nanocomposite. The biological behavior indicatesthat a thick apatite layer precipitate on the surface of the sample with 10 wt%elastin beside increases alkaline group with constant pH concentration. Accordingto the obtained porosity and elastic modulus results, suitable micromechanicalmodel is assessed. The comparison of micromechanical model is assessed, anderror rate was less than 10%; therefore, optimum model is introduced as the bestmicromechanical model for porous bone substitute.