Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Needle ø 450 µm
Needle ø 800 µm
Chitosan
solution
volume 1
volume 1
volume 2
volume 2
Wet
spinning
Precipitation
solution
Chitosan
fiber
Pre-drying
treatment
50%
Methanol
bath
100%
Methanol
bath
Fiber
mesh
Moulding
& drying
T = 60 ° C,
overnight
FIGURE 3.4 Schematic diagram demonstrating the method to tailor the morphology of fi brous chitosan
scaffolds produced by wet spinning. By using various needle diameters and molding different volumes of
fi bers, it is possible to obtain a range of scaffolds with distinct morphologies.
3.5.2.1
Microcomputed Tomography
Selected porous PLLA scaffolds and fi brous chitosan scaffolds have been cross-examined by µ-CT
(Scanco μ-CT40) using 55 kV energy and 144 µA intensity (Figure 3.5). The effective resolution of
the reconstructions was 6 µm. A Gauss fi lter and threshold were applied to the reconstructions to
segment the scaffold structure, which was initially analyzed for porosity, surface area, and fi lament
thickness. The percentage of polymer here denominated bone volume (BV), the total volume (TV),
and the ratio (BV:TV), which were obtained using the Scanco Medical µ-CT software. BV is used
 
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