Effect of Glutaraldehyde Concentration Variation on Diclofenac Sodium Scaffolds as Cross-Linking Agent

Chitosan and gelatin were used as polymer scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering. The scaffold was used as a biodegradable drug delivery system for diclofenac sodium to treat cartilage defects on osteoarthritis (OA). The materials were composed of diclofenac sodium, chitosan, gelatin, and cross-linking agent-glutaraldehyde (GTA) were form as scaffold. The purpose of this study to investigate the effect of GTA concentration variations (0.00%; 0.25%; 0.50%; 1.00%; 2.50%) on characteristics and the release of diclofenac sodium from chitosan-gelatin scaffold. The scaffolds were made by using the pre-freezing method with a temperature of-56 ± 5°C for 24 hours and characterized by porosity, pore size, swelling, degradation, toxicity test, and diclofenac sodium released from chitosan-gelatin scaffolds at pH and temperature body. The results showed, the addition of GTA increased the swelling ratio from 195.79 ± 7.04% to 793.49 ± 6.92% and minimized weight loss up to 50.98 ± 0.82%, percentage of living cells >60%, optimal porosity at 106.94 ± 9.38 % with pore size 135.48 ± 89.70 µm, diclofenac sodium as sustained release drug completed in 542 hours and the release was following zero-order kinetic. Chitosan-gelatin scaffold is a potential candidate for cartilage tissue engineering and drug delivery system for diclofenac sodium.