The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Fabrication of hydroxyapatite-biodegradable polymer scaffolds by electrospinning for potential bone tissue application
Author:	Suzuki, Satomi
View Online:	njit-etd2006-105 (xi, 77 pages ~ 11.5 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Biomedical Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Biomedical Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Arinzeh, Treena Livingston (Committee chair) Jaffe, Michael (Committee member) Collins, George (Committee member)
Date:	2006-08
Keywords:	Bone tissue engineering Electrospinning Biodegradable polymers
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The purpose of this study is to determine the potential of combining hydroxyapatite (HA) and polymers to form synthetic composite materials used for bone tissue engineering applications. In this study, ceramic-biodegradable polymer composites are fabricated by electrospinning method. The biodegradable polymers used are poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA), and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA). Two types of HA-polymer solutions are first prepared to achieve HA weight percentage of 0, 10, and 25%of the total combined weight of HA and PLLA, and HA and PLGA. The solutions are electrospun to form nanofibrous mats incorporated with HA powder. A biomimetic process was also conducted as a secondary approach. The nanofibrous mats obtained follow characterization using scanning electron microscope (SEM) - Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDXA), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). In this study, hydroxyapatite (HA) particles were successfully incorporated into the three dimensional porous biodegradable PLLA and PLGA polymer fiber mats by electrospinning.