From the SEM images, it can be concluded that PLGA (50:50) degraded at a much faster rate than PLGA (75: 25) and the presence of CS led to increased porosity and altered the surface morphology. By the end of four weeks, we observed complete degradation of the scaffold, which implies that most of the CS was released into the microenvironment. On the other hand, the PLGA (75:25) scaffold increased in pore size but did not macroscopically degrade within four weeks, which can be exploited to release late biochemical cues (TCP) for bone regeneration in a controlled fashion. Additional experiments testing our claim (GAG assay, calcium assay, compressive modulus, molecular degradation measurement, mass loss analysis) are in progress and will reported at the conference.
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