Indian Journal of Biotechnology Vol 12, October 2013, pp 475-482 Chitosan-pectin-alginate as a novel scaffold for tissue engineering applications D Archana 1 , Laxmi Upadhyay 2 , R P Tewari 2 , Joydeep Dutta 3 , Y B Huang 4 and P K Dutta 1 * 1 Department of Chemistry and 2 Department of Applied Mechanics, M N National Institute of Technology, Allahabad 211 004, India 3 Department of Chemistry, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Raipur 493 661, India 4 Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Changchun, P R China Received 2 April 2012; revised 23 October 2012; accepted 27 January 2013 Chitosan-pectin, chitosan-alginate and chitosan-pectin-alginate scaffolds were prepared by freeze-drying technique. The physicochemical characteristics of the scaffolds were characterized by FTIR and SEM. The biological activities like antibacterial assessment, swelling behavior, biodegradation and cytotoxicity study of the prepared scaffolds were evaluated. The results show high swelling property, good mechanical strength, moderate biodegradable properties, excellent antibacterial activity and cell-viability for chitosan-pectin-alginate ternary scaffold. Hence, it can be served as a potential material for tissue engineering applications. Keywords: Alginate, cell viability, chitosan, lyophilization, pectin, scaffolds, tissue engineering Introduction Tissue engineering (TE) is an important therapeutic strategy for present and future medicine. It involves the development of temporary, or in some cases permanent, biological substitutes for failing tissues and organs. The three primary tools to regenerate tissues include cells, scaffolds and growth factors. One of the major strategies in tissue engineering is to employ a suitable scaffold. The scaffold should possess the characteristics like biocompatibility with the tissues, biodegradability at the ideal rate corresponding to the rate of new tissue formation, no toxicity and no immunogenicity, optimal mechanical property and adequate porosity and morphology for transporting of cells, gases, metabolites, nutrients and signal molecules both within the scaffold as well as between the scaffolds 1 . A number of biodegradable polymers have been exhaustively explored as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. The materials include synthetic polymers, e.g., polycaprolactone, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid), poly (ethylene glycol), poly (vinyl alcohol), polyurethane and natural polymers, e.g., alginate, gelatin, collagen, starch and chitosan. Among them, naturally derived polymers are of special interest due to their natural components of living structures, biological and chemical similarities to natural tissues 2 . In this context, chitosan has been found a fascinating candidate for cell culture, tissue engineering applications and in guided tissue regeneration 3,4 . The unique biological properties of chitin and chitosan, including biocompatibility, hydrophilicity, biodegradability, non-toxicity, haemostatic properties, antibacterial and wound healing acceleration property, assures their biochemical significance in skin repair processes 5-8 . Owing to their biodegradability, both chitin and chitosan have attracted much attention as materials for tissue engineering and in particular for skin engineering because the materials should degrade as the new tissues are formed. Tissue engineering generally makes use of biocompatible and biodegradable scaffolds with mechanical properties closely matching those of the target tissue. The cationic nature of chitosan facilitates the preparation of various scaffolds in combination with anionic glycosaminoglycans, which is an important molecule in human dermal tissue, forming polyelectrolyte complexes (PEC). Chitosan based PEC scaffolds also provide controlled drugs, growth factors and extracellular matrix component release. The preparation of scaffold normally involves freeze-drying or lyophilization of chitosan gel solution. Alginic acid is a linear copolymer of (1,4) linked D-mannuronic and 1-guluronic acid residues arranged in a non-regular blockwise pattern 9 . Pectin is an edible and water-soluble polysaccharide, which consists primarily of D-galacturonic acid with a part —————— *Author for correspondence: Tel: +91-532-2271272; Fax: +91-532-2545341 E-mail: pkd_437@yahoo.com