本文製備了一系列的海藻酸鹽/氫氧基磷灰石（Alginate/HAP）複合支架，並探討其特性。加入HAP到水膠溶液是為了增加支架的機械性質以及其生物相容性。此支架是經由三個步驟所製造出來，首先是使用二價的陽離子（例如鈣、鍶及鋇離子）使alginate溶液形成水膠，然後是冷凍，最後再經由冷凍乾燥的過程製備出三維並具有孔洞的海綿體。本文中所製備出來的Alginate/ HAP複合支架不但具有良好的孔洞連結性，孔隙率高，而且其機械性質比純的alginate支架強；並且，此支架可以經由改變製備過程中的冷凍溫度，而產生不一樣的孔洞型態以及微結構。降解行為的改善可以經由將Alginate/ HAP複合支架浸泡至1.0M CaCl2的溶液當中而獲得控制。本研究中並且觀察將類骨母細胞UMR-106分別種植於Alginate/HAP複合支架以及純的Alginate支架上，結果顯示類骨母細胞在複合支架上有較明顯的增生現象，因此推測複合支架之生物相容性較佳。因此，本研究中所製備的天然高分子海綿體可做為組織工程之模板，應用於骨的組織再生極具潛力。 In this study, a series of alginate/hydroxyapatite(HAP) composite scaffolds were prepared and characterized. HAP was incorporated into the alginate gel solution to improve the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of scaffolds. The scaffold was prepared by a three-step procedure: first gelation of the alginate solution to form a hydrogel with divalent cations (such as Ca2＋, Sr2＋and Ba2＋), then freezing, and finally drying by lyophilization to produce a three-dimensional, porous sponge. Alginate/HAP composite scaffolds prepared in this paper not only have well interconnected, highly porous structure but also have greater mechanical properties than the neat alginate scaffold. The morphology of scaffolds can be manipulated by tuning the quenching temperature during the preparation. The degradation behavior of alginate/HAP composite scaffolds was easily controlled through the pretreatment by immersing scaffolds into 1.0 M CaCl2 solution. Osteoblastic-like cell line, UMR-106, seeded into the alginate/HAP composite scaffolds demonstrated better biocompatibility than the pure one. These natural polymeric sponges fabricated in this article may be a promising approach for tissue engineering applications.
