Mona Zaersabet, - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
Zivar Salehi, - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
Mahvash Hadavi, - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
Soheila Talesh Sasani - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

Functional reconstruction of large osteochondral defects is always a major challenge in articular surgery. Engineering functional bone using combinations of cells, scaffolds and bioactive factors are seen as a promising approach that covers all the attempts to speed up healing of bone in all musculoskeletal disorders. Zein, a native protein derived from corn, has an excellent biodegradability, and therefore becomes a hotspot on research and application in the field of biomaterials. In this study, a zein scaffold was made using the solvent casting/particulate leaching method with sodium chloride (NaCl) particles as the porogen. The microstructural analysis and porosity of the scaffolds were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and liquid substitution method, respectively. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) were cultured on zein and zein/hydroxyapatite biomaterials. Cell viability and proliferation in scaffolds were analyzed by MTT assay. Using scanning electron microscopy, it was established that both scaffolds had good pore interconnectivity and mean pore size was in the range of 200-300 µm. In addition, the result showed that the zein scaffold had smooth wall surface but HA addition to composite increased surface roughness. This results informed the first step analysis of zein/HA osteoinductive material. Further investigation for scaffold mechanical properties and DPSCs osteogenic differentiation will be evaluated in the future.

Zein/hydroxyapatite scaffolds; DPSCs