Influence of collagen addition on the thermal and morphological properties of chitosan/xanthan hydrogels

This study investigates the collagen influence on thermal and morphological characteristics of chitosan/xanthan hydrogels for potential tissue engineering applications. Anionic collagen was prepared by selective hydrolysis of type I collagen found in bovine tendons. Chitosan was obtained from the partial deacetylation of squid pen β-chitin and xanthan was acquired from Fluka. The hydrogels were obtained in different ratios and were characterized by thermal and morphological analysis. FT-IR suggested only electrostatic interactions between NH3+ groups of chitosan and COO− groups of xanthan and collagen. Thermogravimetric curves showed that hydrogels contain a great amount of water (above 98%) and the presence of collagen does not change this characteristic. Freezing-bound water transition in DSC curves was shifted to higher values due to the increase of water/polymer interaction, mainly when different ratios of chitosan and xanthan were used. SEM images showed sheet-form structures with the presence of collagen promoting an increase in pore size.