Abstract
Porous collagen matrices crosslinked with hyaluronic acid (HA) by 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) have been developed as scaffold materials for tissue engineering. The biological properties, including fibroblast proliferation, haemolytic behaviour, micronucleus, acute toxicity and sensitivity test response, were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphology demonstrated that the collagen/HA scaffolds had interconnected pores with mean diameters of 100-300 μm. The fibroblast proliferation result indicated that collagen/HA extract could support cell growth and showed a high viability. The haemolytic test suggested that the collagen/HA composite scaffold, with a haemolytic ratio of 0.326-0.776%, did not have any obvious haemolytic reaction. The micronucleus frequency of collagen/HA was (3.2 ± 0.71)‰, which showed no genotoxic effect. The collagen/HA scaffolds showed no acute systemic toxicity, and there was no allergic response in sensitivity test. Therefore, collagen/HA composite materials would be a promising candidates as biomedical materials for tissue engineering.