Fabrication of Three-Dimensional Alginate Porous Scaffold Incorporated with Decellularized Cornu Cervi Pantotrichum Particle for Bone Tissue Engineering

Deer antler velvet (DAV), Cornu Cervi Pantotrichum, has been known for the outstanding growth rate and used in extracted liquid form in oriental herbal medicine for the tissue regeneration. The DAV is also famous for the abundance of many different minerals, proteins, growth factors and interleukins. The immense amount of DAV is consumed to produce DAV extract in Asian countries. However, the mechanical strength and the morphologic features of DAV have been overlooked. In this study, we revisited the possibility of DAV as a bone tissue scaffold. We first obtained DAV particles via physical decellularization followed by levigation procedure and then applied to the fabrication of three-dimensional porous alginate/DAVP sponge through lyophilizing alginate/DAVP hydrogel as a potential bone tissue scaffold source. The morphological and physicochemical properties of alginate/DAVP sponge were characterized using UTM, SEM, FE-SEM, and FT-IR. The alginate-based highly porous sponge demonstrated the interconnected porous structure with DAVP and improved mechanical properties. We expected both alginate/DAVP and DAVP are potential for tissue engineering application.