Tissue-engineered chitosan/bioactive glass bone scaffolds integrated with PLGA nanoparticles: A therapeutic design for on-demand drug delivery

A controlled-release drug delivery system can be achieved by incorporating biomolecules within biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) and further inclusion of such carriers into tissue-engineered scaffolds. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of adding poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) NPs on a chitosan-bioactive glass (CH-BG) scaffold. Two groups of scaffolds, with and without NPs, were prepared by lypholization and the drug release was studied. It was shown that the incorporation of the NPs increased the mechanical strength of the scaffolds, while the swelling behavior slightly decreased as a result of adding NPs. The results demonstrated that while the addition of NPs did not affect the morphology of the scaffold, the system had a potential to be used as a controlled-release platform of model drugs to the bone once implanted. Furthermore, the ability to control NP size together with targeted delivery may result in favorable biodistribution and development of clinically relevant targeted therapies. [Display omitted] •The incorporation of the nanoparticles increased the mechanical strength of the scaffolds.•The swelling behavior slightly decreased as a result of adding PLGA nanoparticles.•The addition of PLGA NPs does not deteriorate the main characteristics of the scaffolds.•The controlled-release of the model drug, DEX, is achieved in PLGA NPS-CH-BG scaffolds.•The feature of localized delivery of drugs is added to the scaffolds.